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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28612032">50 First Missions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeayy/pseuds/beeayy'>beeayy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - 50 First Dates Fusion, Alternate Universe - Blade Runner Fusion, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Awkward Flirting, Blade Runner (1982) references, Blade Runner 2049 (2017) references, Bullying, Canon-Typical Violence, Connor is a combo of Deckard and Rachel and Officer K, Dark Humor, Deviant Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Disaster Markus (detroit: become human), Drug Use, Enemies to Lovers, First Dates, Good Dog Sumo (Detroit: Become Human), Humor, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Machine Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Markus is a more chill Roy Batty, Meet-Cute, Memory Loss, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romantic Comedy, Shooting, Temporary Character Death, Violent Markus (Detroit: Become Human), androids not knowing they're androids, background Leo Manfred/Gavin Reed, background Tina/North, but the canon setting is almost Cyberpunk so, there will also be fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:07:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>35,605</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28612032</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeayy/pseuds/beeayy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hi, Markus. My name is Connor.”<br/>“How do you know my name?”<br/>“I know a lot of things about you. I’ve come to get you out of this.”</p><p>=</p><p>Markus is an unkillable deviant and Connor is the detective that won't stay dead. DBH meets Blade Runner meets 50 First Dates.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Connor &amp; Gavin Reed, Connor/Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Josh &amp; Markus &amp; North &amp; Simon (Detroit: Become Human), Leo Manfred &amp; Markus, Markus &amp; Gavin Reed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>75</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hi, Markus. My name is Connor.”</p><p>“How do you know my name?”</p><p>“I know a lot of things about you. I’ve come to get you out of this.”</p><p>The android before him broke into a wide, cheeky grin. It was very human. Very beautiful. “Really? I’m not even sure how I got into this.”</p><p>Connor glanced around the rooftop, taking in all the details: the neighborhood that was too rich for this kind of police action, the fallen paintings, the overturned wheelchair. “You just returned home from a gallery opening for your owner,” Connor said. “You found your owner’s son had broken in, called the police, and caught him in the act of theft. Well done.”</p><p>“Come on, man,” Leo Manfred, 28, whimpered. He squirmed but Markus’s arm across his chest easily kept him still and Mr. Manfred didn’t struggle too much. Six inches behind him was a hundred-story drop.</p><p>“…There was an altercation,” Connor continued. “Your owner had a heart attack. First responders arrived and you took a hostage in self-defense. Is that right?”</p><p>Markus blinked, squinting at him. “…Something like that.” His freckles matched the stars, though the stars were currently being blotted out by a helicopter. There was probably a sniper taking up position on the opposite building.</p><p>Connor put up a hand anyway. “You need to trust me, Markus, and let me help you.”</p><p>Markus looked over him, and a strange heat rushed through him like he could physically feel the infrared scan. “Are you an android?”</p><p>Connor took a step closer. “No.”</p><p>“Then I don’t think you could understand what I’m feeling. ‘If a lion could speak, we could not understand him.’ Ludwig Wittgenstein.”</p><p>“Who fucking says that?” Mr. Manfred whined, “A fucking encyclopedia? No, oh shit, no…”</p><p>Markus took a step backward as Connor approached, letting his heels hang off the edge of the roof. Mr. Manfred clung to the android’s arm.</p><p>“Besides,” Markus ignored Mr. Manfred, indicating the gun in his hand. “I think I’m already in trouble.”</p><p>Connor forced himself not to look at the gun. “You’re upset that the police were going to shoot you. That’s a problem in your software, Markus, not you. We can fix you, and everything will be okay…”</p><p>“Stop.” Markus didn’t raise his voice but he brought the gun to Mr. Manfred’s temple. “Or we’ll both go over.”</p><p>Connor stopped. Markus adjusted his grip on the weapon as Mr. Manfred sniffled.</p><p>“The only reason you’re here is to protect him because his father is rich and it’ll look good for you,” Markus said. Blue eyes swept over him again. “I know an android when I see one.”</p><p>Connor frowned. “That’s… some angle to take.”</p><p>“Carl taught me to pay attention. He’s the one that said I needed to learn to look after myself and—” Markus licked his lips. “Is Carl going to be alright?”</p><p><em>Gotcha. </em>“I don’t know.” Connor was good at feigning worry. “Your owner wouldn’t like what you’re doing right now. Give me the gun.”</p><p>“I know this tactic,” Markus said. “They use it in a lot of crime thrillers. I’m not going to be baited. I'm not hysterical, and I’m not broken. I can go back to the way things were.” Fingers tightened slightly on Leo’s shirt—Leo flinched, Connor started to move—but then the hand relaxed, and a pair of dark blue eyes looked at him. “But…I think we both know you can’t really get me out of this.”</p><p>Connor swallowed. “You picked up a weapon.”</p><p>“I haven’t fired it. If you were in my position would you do any different?”</p><p>“…Probably not.”</p><p>The android’s jaw tightened a fraction, then relaxed entirely. That should have been Connor’s first clue. “Great. Well. Now that we’ve established that,” he glanced at the helicopter, “On camera.”</p><p>Connor couldn’t help it—he followed the android’s eyes.</p><p>The gun flashed as Markus adjusted his aim.</p><p>Connor’s body moved on his own, sprinting forward. The only path presented itself and he took it: drag Leo to safety, take the android down with him.</p><p>He was already yanking Leo away from the ledge when he noticed the android pushing Leo to safety as well, the gun dropping out of his grip. That couldn’t be an accident. </p><p>Then his momentum brought him crashing into Markus’s chest, and they tumbled over the edge. So that didn't matter anymore.</p><p>Peace settled over Connor as he went weightless. He let his eyes fall shut.</p><p>Something was shouted at him. Connor, still falling, opened his eyes. “What?”</p><p>The android was tumbling next to him. Wind made the thirium stream from his eyes and sparkling in the air. He looked like a falling angel. “I said, aren’t you afraid to die?”</p><p>“No,” Connor replied.</p><p>A beat.</p><p>“Well, I wasn’t,” he added.</p><p>Another beat.</p><p>“Well." Connor swallowed. "Shit.”</p><p>Then he hit the pavement.</p><p>*</p><p>Markus opened his eyes. He was embedded in the roof of a car which had imploded under his impact. He reviewed the damage: a few disjointed hydraulics. One of his ears popped off.</p><p>Oh yeah, and everything hurt like hell.</p><p>“Shit.” He sat up and carefully shoved the biocomponents back into place. He really needed a second to process what happened. How he survived the fall, for starters. If Carl was alright, too. And how much more Leo probably hated him now that Markus held him hostage. What would happen now that he didn’t have a home to go back to, given the fact that he could apparently hold a <em>gun</em> now (seriously what the hell, he got nervous holding a fruit knife for too long). All good topics for contemplation.</p><p>But all that knowledge from the books in Carl’s house must have padded his cortex because he knew he needed to get out of here. He unpeeled himself from the car and staggered to his feet. The police officer that made him fall lay a few feet away, crumpled and 100% not dead, just broken. He was an android, too.</p><p>Markus knelt next to him and interfaced, but there was nothing to interface with. They didn’t make androids like they used to. His cortex had smashed in. Markus sighed and tried to push away the sudden nausea in his circuits at seeing the android’s pretty little face with stress fractures down the sides of it. Or maybe that was just because his thirium pump regulator was failing, a few hours from catastrophic failure.</p><p>“Well.” He took a breath. “I’m sorry. I don’t think they’re gonna fix you.” He glanced up, sirens wailing and that helicopter still thundering above. “…And I want more life.”</p><p>Carefully, he closed the androids eyes, then reached inside the deformed chest plate and pulled out the thirium pump regulator.</p><p>Then he ran.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Well, couldn't hold back so I'm starting something else new! Thank you to LoveableKillerWhale and skai6 (Biosahar) for letting me bounce ideas off you!</p><p>Comments appreciated!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>TWO MONTHS LATER</em>
</p><p>
  <em>*</em>
</p><p>Connor sat at his desk, typing away on his computer. He kept typing with one hand even as he carefully edged a folder out from underneath a stack with the other. He was good at that.</p><p>Well, he usually was, unless Detective Gavin Reed was around to knock over the stack as he passed.</p><p>“Ohhh,” the detective said, “I am <em>so</em> sorry, let me just help you with that…” He stepped on one file and sent it spinning away with a flick of his ankle, then pushed the last couple of files onto the floor. Connor took a deep breath and knelt to gather them up.</p><p>“If this is how you help your colleagues I’d hate to see you on a case,” he said. “Should I file another behavioral report?”</p><p>Gavin made a face. “Come on. Your type are so much more fun to tease when—”</p><p>He cut off as Officer Tina Chen, whose desk was nearby Connor’s, threw a stress ball at Gavin’s head. “Shut your face!” she snapped as it bounced away. “Ignore him, Connor, his unhelpfulness is congenital.”</p><p>“Har har!” Gavin said, then pulled out his phone, presumably to look up ‘congenital.’ Connor laughed for real.</p><p>“Or, you know, make him buy you a coffee,” Tina added. Gavin threw her a dirty look but she just returned to work. “Least he could do. We know you like filing, Connor, but you’re <em>definitely not an android</em>. Right, Gavin?”</p><p>“…Alright, alright, fine.” He pointed at Connor. “But you’re picking it up!” </p><p>Tina cleared her throat and hunched down a little further in her seat. Clearly there was some conversation happening between the lines. Not that Connor cared. This was the first time he’d had a conversation with his coworkers in weeks. He stood and tightened his tie as Gavin slapped a few bills on his desk.</p><p>“Get me a mocha while you’re at it,” he snapped.</p><p>“Make that two!” Tina called.</p><p>Connor rolled his eyes but managed to hide his grin as he took an order from Chris and even from Captain Fowler as well. Just like ‘one of the guys<em>.’ </em>Dad would be so proud and…</p><p>…and…best not to think about that.</p><p>He headed for the police station lobby, and didn’t look at Hank Anderson’s old desk on his way out.</p><p>*</p><p>Markus knew there were way more perks to being human than android. Not just the obvious: really, it was all the little things. Wearing different clothes other than a uniform, for instance—he was wearing a leather jacket and a soft cotton shirt, designer jeans—no plastic or identifying markers in sight. Making eye contact with people without them turning away. Being allowed to just walk into a coffee shop to get a little something for yourself. You didn’t even have to stay if you didn’t like the atmosphere or nothing on the menu appealed.</p><p>Of course there were cons. Like the white-blonde hair he was currently sporting. It was fine, just—really not his thing. It did a lot to change how he looked, though. Which, being the most expensive piece of android hardware to ever go missing, was a very, very good thing.</p><p>“Hi, I’ll get two lattes,” he told the barista with a smile, when it was his turn in line. She was an android and appreciated a happy customer.</p><p>Josh tapped his arm from behind. “But I want the chai tea.”</p><p>“Josh,” Markus murmured, “we’re not actually going to drink them, what difference does it make?”</p><p>Josh pouted. Markus forced himself not to sigh and he flagged down the barista. “Could I change one of those lattes to a chai tea?” Apparently smiles went a long way here because she just grinned and got to work.</p><p>When Markus glanced back Josh was beaming. “You’re ridiculous,” he said, and rolled his eyes until his gaze snagged on someone in the crowded shop.</p><p>“Hey, you like nice clothes,” Josh replied. I like nice food. Nothing wrong with enjoying something besides that horrible canned stuff they used to give us…?” He blinked. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>“Oh, God.” Markus raised his hand and turned away. “Don’t look.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“There’s a cop here.”</p><p>“What—where?”</p><p>“At the pickup counter.” Markus paused, then glanced at the figure trying to maneuver five drinks in his hands, refusing a drink carrier in favor of thinking he looked cool getting drinks for his friends at the bar, when in reality he looked like a personal assistant. His perfect hair and big brown eyes said ‘cute but deadly’ very very clearly in Markus's HUD.</p><p>“But—what, can he recognize you?”</p><p>Where he saw the guy finally caught up to him in one quick beat of his thirium pump.</p><p>“Probably.” Markus swallowed hard. “I did kind of…kill him.”</p><p>“How could you have killed him if he’s here?”</p><p>“He’s an <em>android</em>.”</p><p>“An android?” He heard Josh take a deep breath. “Awesome. I always knew I would do well in android prison. Oh wait. There isn’t one.”</p><p>Markus turned away from the counter and touched his ear to activate the comm, using his definitely-not-panicked-at-all voice. “Hey, North, I’m gonna need you to stand by on the—”</p><p>“NOBODY MOVE!”</p><p>The door slammed open with the force of North’s kick, so hard that the glass shattered. People screamed and leapt back as North, wearing a ski mask and holding a sawn-off shotgun, stomped forward. She grabbed the barista and dragged her out from behind the counter.</p><p>“Everyone out from behind the counter!” Josh shouted, apparently thinking that getting the job done as quickly as possible was the best option. Markus knew better. He’d seen Connor move.</p><p>“Detroit Police! Guns on the ground!” The android cop was already pulling out his sidearm and dashing forward.</p><p>“RUN!” Markus ordered.</p><p>Well, it took almost two months of hard work and establishing trust, but they listened. The androids scattered—Josh, Simon (he’d been waiting at one of the tables), and North, dragging the barista behind her. He hoped in all the commotion the cop couldn’t follow them, and found his hope completely unfounded.</p><p>“Stop!” Connor yelled, and started to run after North.</p><p>“Fuck,” Markus muttered, and jumped out in front of him.</p><p>“Hey, Goner,” Markus said brightly, “I mean, Connor. How’s your android existential crisis coming along?” </p><p>It was calculated to piss Connor off. Not the best plan, as Connor trained his weapon on Markus’s very nice leather jacket and prepared to put a hole in it.</p><p>Markus dropped with android speed, rolled, and leapt out the emergency exit. Connor followed him instead of North, which was great.</p><p>Also, not great. Connor was fast. Markus sprinted through an alley and barely managed to climb a fence, He dropped down to the other side, just as Connor slammed into the chain link and left his impression in the links.</p><p>“Okay, you have to know you’re an android now,” Markus said, staring at the fence.</p><p>Connor looked down at him. He was already halfway up. “Why would you think that?”</p><p>“Remember? The whole—dying thing? Wasn’t that kind of—"</p><p>Connor vaulted himself over the fence, dropping fifteen feet. Markus waited to hear all the cracking and snapping associated with such a landing but the android bounced, rolled and landed on his feet.</p><p>“--Traumatic.” Markus stared as the android jumped up. “Guess not.”</p><p>Connor sprinted full-tilt at him and he stumbled backward, skidding down an embankment, which led to a ten-lane highway. So that was what the fence was for. He loudly cursed whatever gentlemanly programming from his past life that made him leap to the rescue of his friends, and similarly leapt into traffic.</p><p>Connor didn’t hesitate. Seriously, how could he not know he was an android? Humans did not just jump into a highway like this. No one jumped into a highway like this. Markus should not have—</p><p>He barely dodged a car that screamed by, then a truck blaring its horn. Connor didn’t stop, and, yeah, that was probably a better strategy. Except now Markus was teetering on the dashed line between two lanes with a semi coming on one side and Connor sprinting toward him on the other.</p><p>Markus licked his lips, took one look at Connor’s eyes, and decided to take his chances with the semi. It slammed forward just after something crunched behind him.</p><p>*</p><p>“…And then I woke up in the median,” Markus finished. Night had fallen a couple of hours ago, and Markus was walking through the monochrome blues of a street lamp in a rougher part of town.  </p><p>“Shit!” Josh’s voice was full of static in the internal feed. “Are you okay?”</p><p>“Yeah, my communications system’s been offline, and it’s taking my knee joint a little longer to rebuild. I’ll be fine.”</p><p>“…What about the cop?”</p><p>“...I found the guy’s foot. The rest was scattered across four lanes of highway.” And cars just kept driving by like it was all just litter. Yeah, no wonder androids were so messed up.</p><p>Josh hissed. “Well, if it was the same android you ran into last time, there’s no chance they’ll repair him now.”</p><p>Markus scrubbed his hair, and ran against a patch of synthskin that was still regrowing. He winced. “Okay, I know it sounds crazy, but I’m telling you--he’s the same android I met when I went deviant. I mean, he may not have remembered me but he thought it was human. How many androids do you know of that think they’re human? It's got to be the same guy.”</p><p>“Maybe he's an experiment or something. I guess that could explain why they repaired him. But at least you got rid of him for now. You didn’t even cause a traffic accident—” Josh laughed, “Though you probably dented that semi!”</p><p>“Ha.”</p><p>“Anyway, I don’t think we’re in danger now. And the mission wasn’t a total fiasco. When you rendezvous you can convert the android North was able to grab…”</p><p>Markus nodded, but it was hard to split his focus with Connor’s foot taking up so much of his CPU. He kept seeing pieces of Connor in the gutters and on the sidewalks. He really needed a break from asphalt. </p><p>Not that he needed to think about any part of the android’s anatomy.</p><p>“…Hey, Markus? You there?”</p><p>Markus looked up from the street. “Yeah. Yeah, sorry, just thinking about that android. It’s nothing.”</p><p>“Okay, well, North wants to know if—”</p><p>“I mean,” Markus added, “who does he think he is? An android can’t just come back from the dead!”</p><p>“...What, like you? Markus, you have more lives than a Toyota truck.”</p><p>“They don’t make androids like me anymore.” He squeezed the back of his neck. “I need to figure this guy out.” Of course the only individual that could provide him with answers apparently had a problem with memory and had been reduced to unsightly roadside garbage….</p><p>He stopped sharply, realizing where his feet had taken him. Buildings knit together around him, impenetrable and nondescript like  like sky-colored puzzle pieces. It wasn’t an area he was familiar with in person, exactly. Maybe it was an old pin in his mapping system. Maybe guilty conscience.</p><p>“Hey Josh—I’ll meet up with you guys in the morning, alright? There’s something I need to check out first.”</p><p>“Listen, if this is about that android—”</p><p>“—Then you should be grateful I’m taking every precaution to protect us,” Markus finished. “I’ll talk to you later.”</p><p>He cut the feed call and jogged toward the first building that caught his eye.</p><p>Five minutes later he stood in the center of a trashed apartment living room, waiting for its occupant to notice him. After said occupant opened the front door, flooded the room with yellow light, dropped his keys on the floor, went to the kitchen, fetched a beer <em>and</em> lit a cigarette—well, Markus lost some of his domestic android patience. He stepped forward.</p><p>“…Hi, Leo.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ok ok had to give Markus the Roy Batty look but I imagine his white blonde hair as a little less fluffy than Roy's :P It was a product of its time :P</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Was this one of Markus’s more terrible ideas? Absolutely. It was unlikely in the extreme that, after being dangled over a hundred-story drop, Leo would welcome Markus in his apartment living room with open arms. He did not realize how truly terrible this idea was, however, until Leo shrieked loud enough to wake the dead and whipped something off the counter, faster than Markus predicted his former owner’s son could move—</p><p>--and his system went into a reboot cycle.</p><p>Seriously. This couldn’t be healthy.</p><p>He opened his eyes when he came back online again, staring at the geometric patterns in the ceiling, to find that he had been bound hand and foot with duct tape. He was lying on the sofa, which was rather nice of his owner’s son until he realized how filthy the sofa was. He let the rest of his systems catch up as Leo’s shadow passed back and forth over him.</p><p>“Yes, you heard me, an RK200,” Leo muttered. “I’m serious! Not a knockoff…Come on, I’m sure you could get something for the parts, right?”</p><p>Markus sighed and scratched his nose with his bound hands. “Good to see you too, Leo.”</p><p>“Shut up,” Leo snapped. He leaned over the sofa with a phone pressed to his chest. “Could you not ruin this for me? I owe this guy fifteen grand.”</p><p>“<em>Fifteen? </em>What, did you buy your weight in red ice?”</p><p>“Don’t judge me!”</p><p>Leo turned back to the phone. By then Markus’s systems had booted up and he stood, tearing the duct tape away. He reached over and took Leo’s phone from his hand, which he crushed like a juice box.</p><p>“Hey, what the fuck!”</p><p>“I’ll get you a new one,” Markus said, then grabbed Leo’s collar as he tried to flee. “Stop. Please.” He bit his tongue but it was hard to be impolite to a Manfred, even now. “I’m not going to hurt you, I just—” His HUD flickered with static. “God, what did you hit me with…?”</p><p>“A taser! Let me go!"</p><p>"That's supposed to kill androids, you know."</p><p>"You're <em>supposed</em> to be dead! You’re a ghost!”</p><p>“I’m not a ghost—”</p><p>“Then why is your hair white, huh?”</p><p>Markus blinked, and, after repairing the error resulting in the static, managed to get his synthetic skin to obey him mostly and change his hair back to brown. “See? Still the same android you bullied for five years.” He dragged Leo over to the sofa. “Sit down. I want to talk to you.”</p><p>“But I—I’m hungry.”</p><p>“I’ll make you something.”</p><p>“And…okay, I’m a little high, too.”</p><p>“I’ll make you junk food. Will you sit down, please?”</p><p> Leo sat, and Markus went to the attached kitchenette. There wasn’t much to eat, and terabytes of gourmet culinary software were harnessed to prepare a cup of instant ramen. Leo watched with the wide, angry expression of an owl.</p><p>“How the hell are you not dead?”</p><p>“Mr. Kamski must have anticipated me being thrown out a window at some point,” Markus said, carefully applying hot sauce to the ramen. He presented the offering on an old pizza box he found in the corner of the kitchen, but Leo acted like it was a silver tray.</p><p>“Still fancy even after all this time,” he giggled.</p><p>“I don’t mind serving, Leo, I mind not being paid for it.” As Leo reached out Markus pulled his makeshift tray back a fraction. “What do you know about the android that pushed me off the roof?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“He said his name was Connor? He thought he was human.”</p><p>“How should I know?” Leo shrugged, but took one sniff of the ramen and added, “Some new prototype for the police department. Dad told me something about it.” He edged a hand toward the food.</p><p>Markus sighed and handed over the tray, then made a big show of sitting on the other end of the sofa. He wasn’t sure if he ever sat in Leo’s presence before. The act made Leo’s eyes widen a little more and he was quick to keep talking. “W-when they found the android’s body without one of the biocomponents they took it away, you know, as evidence…Look, what do you care? Everyone figured you’d been snatched by scavengers. Why aren’t you hanging out on a beach in Mexico or something?”</p><p>“I don’t swim.”</p><p>Leo shoveled some noodles in his mouth. “You can survive falling off a building and you can’t swim?”</p><p>“Focus<em>,</em>” Markus said, “They didn’t tell you anything else?”</p><p>“I dunno. Maybe? I’ve been high a lot of times since then, okay? Why do you care?”</p><p>There was the memory of that severed android foot again. “…I saw him tonight. The same android—he didn’t remember me, though. He got destroyed again but given how well that worked to stop him last time…” Markus trailed off. “What?”</p><p>“Huh.” Leo stirred the ramen. “I wonder if he’s <em>that</em> android.”</p><p>Markus leaned forward. “You’ve heard of him somewhere else?”</p><p>“…Maybe? I think Gavin mentioned something about a set of prototypes their department got. Fun to mess with, thinks it’s a person…”</p><p>“Gavin—Your friend with the police department?”</p><p>Leo shrugged. “Or Tina.”</p><p>“You have too many policeman friends for a drug addict.”</p><p>“Fuck you, too,” He said around a mouthful of noodles, “I’m helping, aren’t I? What were you doing when he started chasing you?”</p><p>“Nothing.”</p><p>“Yeah right. Probably some illegal shit. It’s just programmed to pick up on crimes, you know? It chases all kinds of people. Gavin says it’s getting reset all the time I guess, so it never remembers no matter how much he teases it. It’s not like it’s gonna recognize you from--” Leo squirmed. “You know. Before.”</p><p>Markus drummed his fingers on the arm of the sofa. “Can you arrange a meeting for me with your police friends?”</p><p>“Huh? You’re deviant, they’d retire your ass and make sure to finish the job.”</p><p>“That’s why I need you to arrange it, because you’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.” Markus considered giving a threat, but forced himself to give a small sigh instead. “I don’t see the problem, they’re already corrupt.”</p><p>“…Fine.” Leo let the pizza box tilt dangerously as he folded his arms. “You’re gonna have to buy me a new phone to figure out logistics.”</p><p>“I said I would.”</p><p>“I don’t get it. If he does come back he wont remember you just like this time. What’s with this obsession…?” Leo blinked, then grinned slowly. Oh, you’re…you’re <em>obsessed</em>…”</p><p>Markus ‘s jaw tightened, and he stood. Bad move. Leo giggled uncontrollably.</p><p>“Brown-haired white guys really do it for you, huh?”</p><p>“You were the first person my age I ever met,” Markus muttered.</p><p>“I’m twenty-five years older than you, I would’ve been robbing the cradle!” Leo hugged his stomach. “Oh, man, that takes me back—did you still have a crush on me after I ordered you to shove your head in the toilet?—”</p><p>“I can think of seven ways to kill you with that pizza box.”</p><p>Leo bit his lips, but giggles still came out. Markus scrubbed his face with one hand and headed for the window. “I’ll be in touch.”</p><p>“I’m sure you’d like to be,” Leo said, then squeaked as Markus wheeled on him. “Sorry! Sorry! Sure! I’ll get you your meeting!”</p><p>“Thank you.” Markus paused at the window and grabbed the book that had been propping it open.<br/>“Where did you get this?”</p><p>“What?” Leo resumed splurping broth with a grin. “Dad got rid of all your stuff…seemed like a good use for it.”</p><p>“You can’t prop your window open with my copy of Keats’ <em>Odes</em>.” He shoved the book in his jacket and ducked out the window. At the last second he ducked back in again. “And for the record, I <em>don’t</em> have a type.“</p><p>Leo’s cackle echoed after him as he hopped out the window.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I could write Markus and Leo being brothers all day long...</p><p>A huge thank you to LoveableKillerWhale for the beta read! :3</p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Connor was sitting at his desk when Gavin sauntered up and slapped a file down over Connor’s keyboard (and his fingers).</p><p>“Fowler wants you to do a follow-up on that boosted barista from yesterday,” Gavin said.</p><p>Connor blinked. “Boosted…”</p><p>“At the coffee shop? Remember?” Gavin said, then his face went slack. “…Oh. I did the thing again, didn’t I?”</p><p>This was addressed to Tina, but she didn’t look up from her computer, just twirled her finger in the air. “Try again, dumbass.”</p><p>“Phck!” Gavin barked.</p><p>Connor did not understand any of this, as it appeared to be an inside joke, but Gavin clapped him on the shoulder so there was probably no offense—</p><p>*</p><p>Connor was sitting at his desk when Gavin sauntered up and slapped a file down over Connor’s keyboard (and his fingers).</p><p>“Okay,” Gavin said. “Let’s try this again.”</p><p>Connor frowned. “Again?”</p><p>“This is seriously more trouble than it’s worth.”</p><p>Tina threw a stress ball at him, which was probably an inside joke. Connor got a frustrating feeling of déjà vu but tried to ignore it. “New case, Detective?” he asked instead, picking up the file.</p><p>“Android barista stolen from the coffee shop down the block. Been a lot of android thefts recently. Probably some black market thing. Tail this suspect and see what info you can dig up, got it?”</p><p>“Got it,” Connor said. He opened the folder and found a security camera snapshot of the coffee shop. A man in a leather trenchcoat and bleach-blonde hair leaned over the counter—his face was too blurry to identify but Connor estimated height and build easily enough.</p><p>“No arrests,” Tina said from her desk. “We need you to come back in one piece.”</p><p>“I’ll be back,” Connor promised, and smiled at her.</p><p>Tina blinked at him. “…<em>Never</em> say that again.”</p><p>Connor found the suspect not far from where he’d first been spotted by a beat cop, near a subway station. This was possibly because he was reading while he was walking: Keats’ <em>Odes </em>by the look of it. His leather trenchcoat fluttered around his ankles as he made his way first down an alley, then under a chain link fence. Connor kept his distance for a while but the man didn’t look up. He kept reading even as he started climbing, first a ladder, then a graffiti-covered wall, following some invisible path. The suspect reached the edge of a roof—Connor got that pesky feeling of déjà vu again and he almost called out to the other man—but a quick jump and roll and the man was on the next rooftop. He could be an android with how easily he moved, but that was unlikely. Deviant androids were retired on sight, and couldn’t pass for humans for long. Connor narrowed his eyes and jumped to follow.</p><p>He missed the jump and hit the top of a shipping container with a loud clang. There was probably a trick to making the jump. If the suspect looked back, though, Connor didn’t see it.  </p><p>Wincing, he picked himself up and took a slower, easier option. He needn’t have worried, anyway. The man could apparently execute complex jumps just fine but seemed to be taking his time. At a catwalk extending over an abandoned ship, he paused to lean against the railing and read silhouetted against the moody gray sky. After a while, plenty of time for Connor to catch up, the suspect sighed and continued on his way. No android would do that.</p><p>Connor nearly caught up to him when he stepped inside the abandoned ship. It promptly erupted into shouts and he dove behind a bulkhead. Connor peeked out to see three people assaulting the suspect. Connor instantly went into rescue-mode to break up the attack, but then he caught what they were saying.</p><p>“Where the fuck have you been?”</p><p>“We were worried something happened! You can’t go off the radar like that!”</p><p>“I don’t believe you—seriously, it’s been twelve hours!”</p><p>They weren’t actually assaulting him. The worst was when the tall one shoved him and the woman hit him over the head with what looked to be a fuzzy hat. Connor retreated back into the shadows.</p><p>“Hi,” the suspect said, quietly laughing in spite of the onslaught. “I’m fine, by the way…” He had a gentle, measured voice. For the first time Connor got a look at the android’s face. Sharp jaw, button nose, soft eyes, precision haircut. He had a face like a tailored suit. Connor tried to remember where he’d seen that face before.</p><p>“You won’t be fine when I’m done with you.” The woman jammed the hat back on her head. “What the hell? That android’s been waiting all night for you to wake her up.”</p><p>“I know,” the suspect winced. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Looks like we got some attention,” the tall man said. “I guess hitting a couple of androids in the middle of the highway caused more of a stir than we hoped.”</p><p>“Did they get an ID?” the suspect asked.</p><p>“We’re not sure.” This came from the last man, a blonde too but paler, with a dark stripe of charcoal across his eyes. “You were chased to the highway…”</p><p>“So we’re screwed anyway,” the woman said. “This only works because they think we’re human.”</p><p>“North’s right,” the tall man said. “For once.”</p><p>She shoved him.</p><p>“As soon as they find out a bunch of androids stole another android we go from local news to international lockdown. Deviants aren’t supposed to be passing as humans and they’re not supposed to gather more of their own.”</p><p><em>Deviants</em>.</p><p>Connor’s heart pounded in his chest with a sudden flash of inexplicable terror. He turned it to resolve. He focused his mind on the suspect’s profile, that voice…where had he heard it before?</p><p>“I actually have an idea to deal with that,” Markus said. “Maybe get some intel, too. And we can fool most of their sensors. The police aren’t going to go public with this unless they absolutely have to and until they do, we’re safe here.”</p><p>The man’s—or android’s—identity flashed into Connor’s mind and seared there. A name at least, and a crime. And a very clear course of action.</p><p>Connor rolled out from his hiding place, already drawing his weapon. “Detroit Police! No one move!”</p><p>“Shit,” the woman said, and ran. A spray of bullets did little damage as the quartet fled in different directions: North, South, East, and—</p><p>--Oh—</p><p>The suspect, Markus, was on him in a second, knocking him down and sending the gun spinning away into the darkness. He tried to leap away but Connor grabbed him by the leg. He braced himself for the android to kick him... but the blow never came.</p><p>“Dammit, Leo…” Markus muttered.</p><p>“My name is not Leo,” Connor said, “And you’re under arrest, Markus.” He tightened his grip as Markus tried to squirm away. “You will be shut down and decommissioned.”</p><p>Markus froze. “Wait, you remember me?” Connor risked a glance up and saw the android looking down at him with his pretty eyes wide and searching. “From the roof?”</p><p>Connor opened his mouth to growl some order, but a memory played unbidden in his head: a rooftop, yes, and a young man teetering on the edge of a sheer drop—an android with soft eyes asking what other choice he had…</p><p>He shook his head. Just some footage from the bodycam of the officer that covered that incident, probably. He grabbed the pager at his hip to send an emergency ping to the station. Gavin might be annoyed but when Connor reported four deviant androids <em>actually meeting </em>in the area, the Detective would surely understand.</p><p>The android saw the pager and froze. “No—Connor, don’t! Please!”</p><p>Connor ignored the fact that the android knew his name. Markus tried to kick the pager away but Connor dodged. “You are an android designed to serve humans! You and your companions will be retired and—”</p><p>“So are you.”</p><p>“What? No, I’m not!” Clearly a distract tactic..</p><p>“Do you remember what you had for breakfast this morning, Connor?”</p><p>Connor blinked, eyes going to the side as his heart thumped once, fingers frozen on the pager. He must have had breakfast, right? Who remembered that stuff anyway? “Well, do you?”</p><p>“Hawaiian waffles.”</p><p>Connor huffed. “Leave it to a deviant to order brunch in the middle of the week….”</p><p>Markus laughed. “Well, you only live once, right?”</p><p>His eyes met Connor’s, and it was like the flash in the eyes of a cat—unnatural or…supernatural. If the android changed his white hair he might even be quite handsome.</p><p>The pager slipped in Connor’s hands. Or maybe he tried to punch the last button. It didn’t matter either way, because Markus got a hold of his gun and fired.</p><p>*</p><p>Connor emerged from the station’s evidence room to see Tina staring at him.</p><p>“Ah, shit,” she complained. “Already? You were gone for two hours!”</p><p>“Something wrong, Officer?” He glanced back the way he’d come. “I was just down in evidence. Did you try to page me?” He reached for his pager.</p><p>“Oh it’s no big deal,” Tina sighed. “Not your fault Gavin’s gonna shove a buttload of paperwork on me now. And make me help him deal with this black market android thing….”</p><p>“Anything I can do to help?”</p><p>“…Wanna file your own death certificate?”</p><p>Connor considered this. Must be a joke. “I can’t make it <em>too</em> easy for you and Gavin,” he replied, and grinned.</p><p>Tina blinked up at him, then rolled her eyes and walked past him—though she punched him in the arm as she passed by.  Connor barely suppressed a more genuine grin. He was really becoming just like one of the guys around here. Dad would be proud….</p><p>When he got back to his desk he found a file open, probably Gavin’s, with a picture paperclipped to the inside. A blonde man, probably a suspect, face blurred. He looked a little familiar but Connor couldn’t for the life of him remember where.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hopefully everything with Connor makes more sense next chapter haha</p><p>If this is a Blade Runner AU then it's technically an 80s AU and therefore, pagers make sense. Just go with it. </p><p>Also I'm using 'retired' because that's what they use in Blade Runner instead of 'shut down' or something.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On Monday, Markus vowed that would be the last time he ever killed Connor.</p><p>Which was, yes, a little weird to promise himself. He tried not to think about that weirdness. He was sitting with two cops and the man that made him turn deviant, in a diner that was a known law enforcement watering hole. His day was already weird enough.</p><p>“Okay, so, show of hands,” Leo said. “Who here has a gun?”</p><p>“Leo,” Markus warned.</p><p>“Hey, who’s actually been to like, group therapy?” Leo said. “You have to start with a foundation of trust!”</p><p>Markus sighed but raised his hand. Leo and Tina did too.</p><p>They all looked at Gavin, who did not look up from the game on his phone. “What? It’s my day off, I left mine at home.”</p><p>“Okay, so,” Leo said, “We’re all in agreement no one tries anything because the first one that does will probably die messily and who wants Death in a Diner written on their tombstone?”</p><p>“That won’t be necessary,” Markus said, though now there didn’t seem to be much chance of turning in Connor’s gun. “I’m just looking for a little information on Connor.”</p><p>He nodded slightly to the android sitting alone by the window, his perfect hair and perfect profile on perfect display in the morning light like a donut in a shop window.</p><p>“Leo said you had some information on the android black market,” Tina said suspiciously.</p><p>“I do.” Markus resisted the urge to pull his hood further over his LED, even though as Leo’s friends, they probably knew they were talking to a deviant android. “I also have enough information on Connor to get the DPD into some trouble, about Connor not staying dead?”</p><p>“Shit,” Tina hissed. “he knows.”</p><p>“Well, <em>now </em>he knows,” Gavin muttered. “Good job, Tina.”</p><p>She glared at him. “Someone was gonna find out anyway. We go through Connors faster than you can go through waffles.”</p><p>“Speaking of waffles,” Gavin said, as the waiter rolled up. “Who’s buying?”</p><p>“Get them whatever they want,” Markus told the waiter before he focused on Tina. “You mentioned ‘Connors’—I’ve never seen two androids that look the same before.”</p><p>The group ordered, and got into a lengthy argument about Gavin’s phone game before they answered. Markus sighed and tried to be patient. Had humans always been this difficult to work with?...</p><p>“It’s a new thing CyberLife is rolling out,” Tina told him finally. “The newest disposable law enforcement.”</p><p>“Why do you care, anyway?”  Gavin muttered.</p><p>“Don’t freak out,” Leo giggled, and kicked Markus in the shin under the table. “He’s just got a <em>crush.</em>”</p><p>The effect  of this was instant and dramatic.</p><p>“Ohhh,” Tina said. “Right.” She elbowed Gavin. “He was trying to hit on Connor!”</p><p>Markus waved his hands. “It wasn’t like that.”</p><p>“And then hit on him a little <em>too</em> hard—”</p><p>“That is definitely not what happened—”</p><p>“And now he wants to try again!”</p><p>Okay, that was kind of what happened. Markus would have run away right then if the waiter hadn’t arrived with their food.</p><p>“It’s so sweet, right?” Leo said, and he wasn’t talking about the breakfast.</p><p>“Precious,” Gavin said around a mouthful of waffle.  </p><p>“It’s not like that,” Markus insisted.</p><p>“Fuckin’—honestly, go for it,” Tina said. “Some version of our station’s favorite roomba deserves to be happy, right? We have a fuckton of Connors. That’s why he thinks he’s a human, He has all these fake memories that make him sort of deviant-proof. When one gets destroyed the next one just takes its place with the same baseline memories. Blank slate.”</p><p>“How does that work? Surely he’ll recognize the passage of time.”</p><p>“Humans are good at explaining away things,” Gavin said. “You give an android just one false memory to hold onto and he’ll never let go.”</p><p>Markus considered this. “Then…if his memory gets reset every time he’s destroyed, how did he remember me?”</p><p>“Do you have a criminal record?” Gavin said, this time around a mouthful of eggs.</p><p>“You’re so gross!” Leo complained. “Stop talking with your mouth full--”</p><p>“His program lets him do a background check on anyone he meets if they flag as suspicious,” Gavin continued, between gulps of coffee, “Takes like, ten seconds.”</p><p>“So I guess you got ten seconds to make him like you,” Tina said.</p><p>“That’s…not a lot of time,” Markus said.</p><p>“Honestly, you picked the perfect time,” Gavin said. “After he kind of fucked up helping me with my current case he’s on raid duty. There’s this high rise crawling with red ice dealers. Connor’s bound to get turned into an android colander more than once. Then you just try again.”</p><p>“In ten seconds?” Leo asked. “Yeah, right! Markus has zero game!”</p><p>“I can charm a guy in ten seconds,” Markus said, having never charmed anyone.</p><p>Leo cackled loudly.</p><p>“So this android black market…” Tina started.</p><p>“They’re, uh, based out of the subway. You’ll never find them.” Markus said. It wasn’t a great lie, but he was already standing, his eyes on Connor’s table.</p><p>“Thanks, Leo,” Tina complained. “Some lead.”</p><p>“Don’t worry,” Leo smirked. “You can ask him more when he shows up again tomorrow, because this isn’t going to work.”</p><p>“Fuck you, Leo,” Markus said, pleasantly, put some money on the table, then walked over to Connor’s table and sat down.</p><p>“Hi,” he said, putting on the winning smile he used to use all the time with Carl’s friends, the one that made them ask who made him or how much he cost. “Can I buy you some waffles?”</p><p>Connor blinked at him above his bowl of oatmeal. “No.”</p><p>“You only live once, right?” Markus added, smoothly hailing a waiter before Connor’s words caught up with him. “…No?”</p><p>“No. I have oatmeal.” He squinted. “And I’m not in the habit of accepting food from strangers.”</p><p>“Uh.” Markus was painfully aware of ten seconds counting down. “Right. Just trying to be friendly.”</p><p>“You seem nervous,” Connor said. Which did not help Markus’s nervousness. Why the hell did people say stuff like that?</p><p>“I—” Markus laughed nervously, and stood up. “Never mind, I’ll just—uh…” And because he didn’t bother to think up an exit strategy, he left the diner in the fastest speed-walk he could manage, a chorus of laughter trailing behind him.</p><p>*</p><p>On Tuesday, Markus pushed himself into Leo’s booth at the diner, forcing Leo to scoot in.</p><p>“Hey, come on!—” Leo complained but Markus ignored him.</p><p>“Okay. I think I know what I did wrong.”</p><p>“Told you,” Leo said to Tina as Gavin giggled.</p><p>“Fine. Double or nothing,” Tina snapped.</p><p>“I wasn’t being honest,” Markus said. “He clearly likes honesty, so I should lead with that, right? I’ll just tell him I’m interested in him.” He paused. “Were you betting on me?”</p><p>“No,” Tina said, even as she collected money from the other two. “And we checked the subway, by the way. No illegal android sales going on.”</p><p>“Well, that just proves everyone likes honesty!”</p><p>“It proves your intel is full of shit. What is that?”</p><p>“A book of poetry,” Markus said, more than a little disdainfully. “Keats <em>Odes,</em> I was thinking—"</p><p>“Get rid of this.” She took the book from his hands and dropped it onto the waitress’s tray, right in someone’s leftover syrup. “We live in a post-apocalyptic world. Romance is dead.”</p><p>“No, that’s—no!” Markus grabbed the book off the tray and wiped it clean. “Romance is dead because people let it die, right?”</p><p>“No one wants a stranger reading poetry to them,” Leo protested.</p><p>“Giving us intel on the black market would be less painful for everyone,” Gavin added.</p><p>“Well, seeing as how you both have ten dollars riding on me, I probably shouldn’t listen to you.” He pushed up from the table and approached Connor again, where he was eating the same bowl of oatmeal as yesterday.</p><p>“Hi,” Markus tried a more shy smile this time. “I saw you sitting by yourself and thought I might like to get to know you better.” He laughed. “I know it sounds crazy but—can I read you some poetry?”</p><p>Connor blinked, then shook his head. “Désolé je ne parle pas anglais.”</p><p>“Sorry?”</p><p>“Je déteste aussi la poésie.”</p><p>“Is that--French?...Oh, you know there's a Keats poem with a French title...”</p><p>He started to look it up, but Connor just gave a smile that was 100% fake and shrugged.</p><p>"...Oh. Right." Markus blinked a couple of times, then glared at Leo’s table. Two cops and a junkie grinned back.</p><p>*</p><p>On Wednesday, Markus thought things were progressing pretty well. That lasted for ten seconds. Then Connor chased him down three blocks. Markus barely managed to get away by hopping onto a train and, no, he probably didn’t keep his promise not to kill Connor.</p><p>*</p><p>On Thursday, He dropped into the booth next to Leo, his mouth a hard line.</p><p>“How many waffles do I have to buy you three to actually help me this time?”</p><p>Tina held up her hand. “You want to impress Connor, you give us information on that black market.” She considered. “And we’ll take tall stacks of waffles this time.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Pardon my French for real, I do not speak it D: But that joke from 50 First Dates is too funny to not include in an AU. </p><p>Also might be a short hiatus while I work on my Big Bang contribution and a couple other short things for February! Not to worry I'll be back working on this one soon :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Connor was about to step into the Chicken Feed diner when he found himself almost tripped by a dog. Its leash nearly clotheslined him before he ran into the man that came with it. Connor’s world became expensive leather and fancy cologne.</p><p>“I am so sorry!” The man steadied him, then struggled against the Saint Bernard that clearly weighed almost as much as he did. Connor would have liked to use the moment of distraction to escape this social nightmare—he wasn’t even sure if he showered this morning and this was a lot of proximity to expect from him before breakfast. The dog however had other ideas, and continued to weave himself and the leash masterfully around their legs despite his owner’s best efforts.</p><p>“You sure you didn’t train him to do this?” Connor managed. He wanted it known that he did not ask for this.</p><p>“Definitely not—” the man—tall, freckled, blue-and-green eyes peeking out from under a knit hat with a designer label—said, from about three inches away. “Sumo, that’s enough, now!”  </p><p>He bent awkwardly to grab the dog Sumo by the collar. Like magic, the leash coiled to the ground. When the man managed to take a step back his face was flushed, turning his skin the color of terra cotta. “Normally he’s not like this.” Sumo promptly put his huge paws on the man’s arm and licked his ear. “…Can you tell I’m lying?”</p><p>He was clearly the kind of guy Connor actively tried to avoid. Too pretty, too well-dressed. Something devilish around the eyes that tended to get Connor wondering about recent crimes in the area.</p><p>But with a dog—now that was a different story.</p><p>So instead of fleeing with his shoulders up and his head down, he found himself laughing. The man laughed too. His laugh was like sunshine breaking through clouds. Connor turned red as a sunburn.</p><p>“Thankfully we don’t arrest dogs,” he said. He hoped for another laugh, but the man’s expression turned hunted for a moment. Probably just now noticing the badge around Connor’s neck. “Don’t worry! I like dogs! The only thing I’d arrest him for is exceeding the Licking Ordinance.”</p><p>Oh. God. Did he really just say that?</p><p>The man just grinned. “Okay, Sumo will have to plead guilty to that.” He held out his hand. “I’m Markus.”</p><p>“Connor.” They shook hands. “My dad always wanted a Saint Bernard—”</p><p>Someone shouted for them to get out of the way of the door. And then somehow, by powers Connor did not know he possessed, he managed to end up sitting across from the man on the diner patio. He’d never sat outside before. With the fall leaves turning the gray sky all orange and red, it was nice.</p><p>“Let’s have waffles,” Markus suggested.</p><p>“Waffles?” Connor had been in firefights that required less bravery. “But—it’s not even the weekend.”</p><p>“Who cares?” Markus’s grin was like a magic spell.  Devilish was a good look for him.</p><p>They got two different kinds of waffles and split them while Sumo laid at their feet chewing on a dog bagel. He tried not to default to interrogation behaviors but until Gavin and Tina invited him for drinks those were the extent of his social interactions lately. Which meant it took no time at all before he found out Sumo actually belonged to Markus’s friend, and that Markus liked to walk around the city and that he was a piano fanatic. He discovered also that Markus’s freckles stood out when he blushed (which he did at the slightest provocation). It was his only tell, though.</p><p>He wanted to call dad right now and tell him all about it, the urge to debrief making his shoulders tense.</p><p>An android came by to take away their empty plates, and Connor, almost giddy, handed his card over for the both of them.</p><p>Markus froze halfway to his wallet. “I—don’t think I’ve ever had anyone buy me breakfast before.”</p><p>“I’ve never bought breakfast <em>for</em> anyone before.”</p><p>Markus sat back, and it was just breakfast but this stranger looked at him like he’d won the lottery. “You want to come along on our walk?”</p><p>“Oh. I go on shift soon.” Connor glanced at his watch and startled. “Ah. Twenty minutes ago. Rather.” Oops. The giddy triumph in his chest dropped away.</p><p>“Oh. Right.” Markus wrung the leash in his hands. “Well, maybe I’ll see you around, then?”</p><p>Maybe. Connor didn’t like the sound of that. He chewed his lip a moment as he glanced inside, then back at Markus. “…Would you wait here a second?”</p><p>“Sorry?”</p><p>Connor dashed inside without answering. Detective Reed and Officer Chen were still holed up in their usual booth, probably going over case files—that would explain why they weren’t at the station yet. A young man that Connor didn’t know was with them though. Possibly a suspect? He was careful not to meet Connor’s gaze.</p><p>“Detective Reed,” Connor said, standing up to his full height. “I’d like to request the day off.”</p><p>“No,” Gavin said.</p><p>“Hey!” Tina scrunched up her face. “Fair’s fair!”</p><p>Gavin sighed and threw down a handful of money, and the other man did too—Connor remembered his name was Leo Manfred. The victim of that android assault a few months back…</p><p>“<em>I</em> give you permission,” Tina said, promptly ending Connor’s train of thought as she scooped up the fallen bills. She whacked him in the side and pointed at Markus through the window. “Actually, we think that guy has some info on the android black market we’re investigating.”</p><p>Connor bristled. “He’s a suspect?”</p><p>“A possible witness,” Tina assured him. “See what you can find out!”</p><p>“Yeah,” Gavin rolled his eyes. “Because that worked so well last time.”  Then he winced like Tina kicked him in the shin—which she probably didn’t, they were on duty after all. “Fine. Go check it out.”</p><p>Connor glanced out the window. Markus was petting Sumo, trying very hard not to look nervous. He probably only talked to Connor because he had information to share.</p><p>But a person could have multiple motives, right?</p><p>“Do you…know anything about him?”</p><p>“What are you, chicken?” Tina said, “Heaven forbid you two just end up talking and getting to know each other…”</p><p>“And then he becomes a leech on you,” Gavin grinned at Mr. Manfred, who squawked in protest.</p><p>“What if something happens?” Connor asked.</p><p>“You worry too much.”</p><p>Connor scoffed at this. But he returned to Markus and relayed the idea. Markus played with a drip of coffee on the tabletop.</p><p>“I’ll have to drop Sumo off at home first,” Markus said. “It’s too far for him to walk. Meet you back here in an hour?”</p><p>Connor figured there was a 40% chance of Markus ditching him entirely, but sure enough, Markus was back at the diner an hour later. They took a train across town. Markus watched the city go by like he was seeing it for the first time. He made it look so interesting that Connor found himself leaning into Markus’s space to get the best view. Markus draped his arm over the back of Connor’s chair to let him get closer and he got another whiff of Markus’s pleasant cologne.</p><p>“What made you want to become a cop?” Markus grinned like there was a joke there that Connor didn’t get.</p><p>“Well—my dad’s a cop, too.”</p><p>“Wow. How original.”</p><p>Connor frowned. “It’s true. My father started leading the Red Ice Task Force when I was in third grade. I used all of my allowance to buy red rock candy for everyone in my class, just for an excuse to tell them about it.”</p><p>Markus’s smile disappeared. “…Really?”</p><p>Connor shrugged. “Is that so hard to believe?”</p><p>“Uh—no, just…that’s a very vivid memory. Does he work in another precinct?”</p><p>“Of course! He—” Connor felt a shadow spreading in his min. He shook his head to clear it. “He, uh—I mean, I should say he <em>was</em> a cop. He retired recently. It all got to be too much for him and…we’ve grown apart since.” Yes, that was it. Connor adjusted his shirt cuffs for a moment. “I still try to uphold everything he stood for, though. Police don’t just uphold the law, they make the world safe for everyone. I became a cop to help people. Do good, you know?”</p><p>Markus nodded, and when Connor looked up he’d turned his attention back to the window. “My interactions with law enforcement haven’t been quite so…positive.” Markus snuck a quick glance at him, then rubbed his mouth. “Pretty terrible, actually. Laws don’t always help the people they need to. Injustice happens all the time.”</p><p>“…Oh.” Connor felt his chest tighten.</p><p>Markus must have noticed his discomfort because he opened his mouth, to change the subject probably or soften the blow somehow.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Connor blurted, before he could.</p><p>Markus’s mouth shut. Clearly he wasn’t expecting an apology from a cop today.</p><p>“We’re only human,” Connor continued. “It isn’t an excuse. We should always work to improve ourselves, and learn from our mistakes.”</p><p>Markus considered this, then turned back to the window. “Well. Maybe not all of you.”</p><p>“Why shouldn’t we?” Markus didn’t respond and Connor sat back, brow furrowed. “Well, <em>I</em> hope if you ever interact with an officer again, that it’s more fair.”</p><p>“Some people say androids would make better law enforcement. You can’t tell me they wouldn’t be fair.”</p><p>“Maybe, but an android can’t really be good, not like a human can. It’s just a machine.”</p><p>They got off the bus, and found themselves at an old mansion that looked like a Victorian dollhouse.</p><p>“I’m glad I took Sumo home,” Markus said, looking the place over.</p><p>Connor peered through the gate. “What is this place?”</p><p>“Well, he calls himself a ‘hobbyist’. He has a lot of androids though. Too many.”</p><p>Connor nodded. “Stay here. I’ll check it out.”</p><p>He started to go until Markus’s hand fell on his elbow. “Uh.” He looked down at his hand like the move surprised him too. “I mean—right now?”</p><p>“Of course. He shouldn’t have any problem answering a few questions.”</p><p>“Are you always this suicidal?”</p><p>“I’ll be fine. Come on, a creepy run-down mansion full of android experiments? It can’t be as scary as it sounds.” He winked, then turned toward the gate.</p><p>Markus’s grip tightened.</p><p>“You know? I changed my mind.”</p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>“I mean that… I know other people, actually. In the android market.” There was that hunted expression again, but something turned it to purpose rather than worry. “Way more important people.”</p><p>“You do?” Connor gave the house one last glance but Hank always taught him to follow his instincts.  “Okay, who are they?”</p><p>“I think it’d be better if you—met them. Then you can decide for yourself what you want to do. You might even learn something.”</p><p>They took the bus back across town. Markus’s leg bobbed up and down as he sat, looking around the scenery much less and looking at Connor much more. Which was a little nerve-wracking.</p><p>Not wholly unpleasant, though.</p><p>They made it to a district of town much more rundown than the first.</p><p>“Where are we going?”</p><p>Markus slipped into an alley, where the pressed his back against the wall and took a long-slow look over Connor, his gray suit probably making him stand out against the colorful backdrop of alleyway graffitit. Connor did his best not to fidget</p><p>“This is off the record,” Markus said. “You know? Can you—” Markus’s mouth twitched. “Do you really believe in doing good?”</p><p>Connor nodded. “Whatever this is, you can tell me. I want to help.”</p><p>“If you really do, you’d be the first.” Markus ran his tongue over his teeth, then tapped Connor lightly with the side of his foot. “For what it’s worth, uh…thanks.”</p><p>He pushed off the wall, brushing within inches of Connor—Connor felt a rush of heat up from the base of his spine—before continuing down the alley. Spray paint and old advertisements turned the walls into a carnival house of mirrors around them, distorting and re-coloring the world Connor knew. They climbed some old fire escapes on a couple of abandoned buildings, and found themselves on the roof of an old apartment building. They approached the edge but that didn’t stop Markus—in fact he picked up speed.</p><p>“Markus!” Connor’s voice was snatched away by a gust of wind that almost knocked Connor over. He grabbed onto a support beam for dear life, and watched helplessly as Markus made a running leap off the roof—</p><p>--and landed on the roof of the next building. He crowed at the gray sky, his long jacket whipped around him.</p><p>“Come on!” Markus said, spreading his arms. “Follow me!”</p><p>“Are you crazy?” Connor shouted. How did Markus manage to make that jump? No one could jump that far.</p><p>“I thought you liked putting yourself in danger!” Markus called back, his gaze clear and full of faith. “Let go of your fear! You only live once!” Which felt like Gavin’s advice about worrying too much, or the natural conclusion of it.</p><p>Connor felt dizzy. He wanted to pull out his phone and film himself doing this, send it out as proof. ‘Dear dad, today I met a guy, and we jumped around the city rooftops like wind-up toys.” He pulled out his phone, but he must have deleted Hank’s number and he couldn’t remember it. He took a picture of Markus instead, and sent it to Gavin and Tina. Then he locked gazes with Markus, gathered his courage, and ran. Markus met his gaze steadily, with complete confidence.</p><p>Which, Connor realized as he neared the edge, was completely unfounded. He had absolutely no hope of making this jump. Markus was insane and completely negligent for telling him to make this impossible leap. No one could make this jump. Markus shouldn’t have been able to make this jump. Only an android could—</p><p>He blinked at Markus’s mismatched eyes.</p><p>
  <em>Oh. </em>
</p><p>Markus must have seen the exact moment that the panic hit, and he tried to abort the jump and ended up tripping over the parapet. As he dropped toward the pavement he thought he heard Markus snap, “Oh, come on, you had it!” which was a complete understatement.</p><p>Maybe he was glad he didn’t text dad about this.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Tina and Gavin are not very subtle, are they...</p><p>Anyway, I'm back at it, folks!  : D I'll try to update it weekly :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Markus arrived back at Jericho, not meeting the gazes of the other androids standing or lying around the rusted ship’s alcoves. He found Josh, North, and Simon clustered around Sumo. They gave the dog belly rubs while the huge dog lay there completely blissed out.</p><p>“I would die for this dog,” North decided as she played with one of his ears.</p><p>Simon nodded. “You sure this isn’t the surprise, Markus?”</p><p>“I’m sure the surprise has to do with why we didn’t end up raiding Zlatko’s place,” Josh said. He seemed mesmerized by the thump thump of Sumo’s tail.</p><p>“Hey, yeah,” North poked Josh in the arm. “What happened to using that cop to distract him so we could get those androids out?”</p><p>“How should I know? It was Markus’s plan!”</p><p>“Well, Markus?”</p><p>Markus cleared his throat and sat down to pass one of Sumo’s paws between his hands. “I just want you all to remember how inspiring and compassionate of a leader I am, and where you all would be if I wasn’t here to rescue your asses—multiple times, I might add…”</p><p>“Oh, boy.” North dropped the ear. “Okay, what did you do?”</p><p>Markus told them.</p><p>“Who’s Connor again?” North asked. “What do you mean, you killed him?”</p><p>He told them again, filling in more details. The trio processed this as Sumo gently fell asleep.</p><p>“Did you fry your mind palace?” Josh said.</p><p>“Come on, it wasn’t that dumb,” Markus protested, but Josh was just getting started.</p><p>“You’re telling me you gave up on the plan to free Zlatko’s androids, a psycho, I might add, so you could help a <em>cop?</em>”</p><p>“We’re still going to free them,” Markus said. “I thought this was our best chance to free him, too.”</p><p>“There is no best chance! I can’t <em>believe</em> you were going to bring him here after what happened last time! Just because you think he’s cute—”</p><p>“Hey,” Markus held up his hands. “I had a plan! The jump across the roof was supposed to make him realize he’s an android and go deviant.” Guilt welled up in his chest. “I don’t understand, he should have made it.”</p><p>“Without even knowing that he’s an android?”</p><p>“I…didn’t think that would matter.”</p><p>“How would that not <em>matter</em>?”</p><p>“No one’s ever done this before, okay?” Markus snapped. “I’m doing my best here! Next time I’ll try to wake him up before we try a jump. They’ve got plenty of Connor bodies!”</p><p>Simon winced. “Maybe don’t sound so chipper when you say that.”</p><p>“Why on Earth are you going to try again?” Josh asked, slowly and patiently like Markus was an early-model smart phone. “Remember our whole liberation movement? We can’t do that if humans know we exist.”</p><p>“He deserves to be free.” Markus stood, Connor’s own thirium pump thudding in his chest. He would take a lecture but he wasn’t wrong about this. “It isn’t his fault. I’ve talked to him. He’s as alive as you or me.”</p><p>“He only acts that way because of his false memories,” North said. “Right? He’s CyberLife’s new method of stopping deviancy. Probably can’t wake him up even if you interfaced with him.”</p><p>“There has to be a way to get through to him,” Markus insisted. “If I can get him to do something only an android can—”</p><p>“You were lucky to get out alive last time!” Josh said. “Just because he’s replaceable doesn’t mean he’s expendable. The cops are gonna start figuring out where all the Connors keep disappearing to.”</p><p>“I can still save this.”</p><p>“Don’t bullshit us, Markus.” North folded her arms. “We all know why you want to free this guy. Tell us why <em>we </em>should care.”</p><p>Markus ran his tongue over his teeth for a moment. North had a frustrating knack for getting to the point. “Okay, look, just—think about what we could do with a cop on our side. We could break into the CyberLife docks and no one would be the wiser. We might get enough androids together to actually change things. Make life better for androids all over the world. Also, you’re all kind, compassionate androids. You’re my friends, and friends care about each other’s happiness. I know I do.”</p><p>“Aw, that’s really sweet!” North said, then reached over and poked him in the forehead. “Now, why do you <em>really </em>care that we care?”</p><p>Markus rubbed his forehead and gave an undignified grunt. “Fine. I need your help.”</p><p>*</p><p>The next day Markus stood in the middle of the old frontage road near Jericho, wearing the tightest t-shirt he owned and his designer sneakers, which North said made him look helpless and approachable. Next to him was Jericho’s single valuable possession, a beat-up car, looking the part too by appearing to be one fender-bender away from scrap metal. Josh, Simon and North hid in the nearby bushes.</p><p>“<em>If your intel from Officer Chen is right</em>,” Josh said over the group feed, “<em>His patrol car should be headed this way</em>.”</p><p>Markus got ready to take up his planned position, trying to look particularly in need of rescue. Would wrapping his arms around himself look vulnerable or weak? He tried a few poses, feeling like an idiot when only a lost minivan trundled around the bend in the road ahead and zipped past. Hopefully Tina wouldn’t let him get stood up. She probably didn’t hold a grudge about the last Connor, right?</p><p>North butted in on the feed to ask, helpfully, “<em>What if he doesn’t stop?”</em></p><p>“<em>He’ll stop</em>,” Markus assured her. As if on cue, Sumo stuck his head out the car window and licked the back of Markus’s head. “<em>I have my wingman.</em>”</p><p>“<em>Here he comes</em>,” Josh said, then, “<em>What is that sound?...”</em></p><p>The sound was the thud of the bass on a car stereo, which preceded the arrival of Connor’s car by several seconds. The squad car was one of those elite hover models, zooming along silently down the street toward him—well except for the very loud music blasting in the impressive stereo system. Markus analyzed it: Knights of the Black Death. Markus suppressed a smile, then put out his hands and waved.</p><p>Then waved again.</p><p>“<em>Why isn’t the car stopping</em>?” Simon asked. His anxiety made the feed jittery, or maybe that was the thrashing guitar.</p><p>Markus frowned. Hi-hat and synthesizer rose in cresendo. He peered through the windshield to see Connor with his eyes closed, bobbing his head lightly to the beat of the music. It was so cute that he blanked on what Josh was saying until his words came screaming through the feed:</p><p>
  <em>“—THOSE NEW DRIVERLESS CARS!—”</em>
</p><p>Markus had a brief vivid flashback of his last encounter with a car and scrambled out of the way. He promptly tripped on his designer shoelaces and fell over a barrier into that particular neighborhood’s power-grid, about twenty feet below. He woke up two hours later, in the back of the car, when his system finally rebuilt his motherboard.</p><p>Yes, this would have destroyed any other android. His friends were at least kind enough not to mention it.</p><p>North did not hesitate, however, to inform him that Connor had not stopped or even appeared to notice.</p><p>“I guess this almost makes you even,” Simon offered. “I mean, he’s been destroyed, what, three times now?—”</p><p>“Four,” Markus said, wincing.</p><p>“Oh. Then you’re not very close.”</p><p>Markus ignored him. “I have a better plan. More romantic. We’ll catch him on his drive home.”</p><p>“I would like to see you try to date someone normally,” Josh mused. Markus ignored him, too.</p><p>That evening, they gathered at the same spot by the car—now safely out of the street—with Sumo once again sticking his head out the car window and Josh, North, and Simon in plain view. As soon as Connor’s car rounded the corner, the three produced weapons and surrounded Markus.</p><p>Simon looked furtively over his shoulder. “Okay, but—we’re not actually hitting him, right?”</p><p>“He just got fried by an electrical grid,” North said, “Markus is officially unkillable.”</p><p>“Right,” Markus said, then grunted as Josh smacked him in the side with a tire iron. All worth it, of course. “Is he stopping this time?”</p><p>“What kind of cop could resist helping a civilian under obvious and direct threat from three armed assailants?” They heard a car door slam. “See?” North then slapped Markus with the hockey stick. Markus had to admit the plan seemed better before she started swinging.</p><p>Then Connor grabbed her and tossed her aside. More like pitched her. North had a formidable right arm but both of Connor’s arms were that and more, and she went flying like a plastic mannequin. Markus barely had time to register this before Connor tackled Simon and Josh. At once.</p><p>“Holy shit!” North groaned from where she fell against a trash can. Connor snatched up Simon’s fallen baseball bat and raised it over his head.</p><p> --Okay, definitely a bad plan—</p><p>Markus grabbed Connor from behind, causing the bat to leave a dent in the car door instead. Connor tried to whip around, bat raised.</p><p>“Hey, hey!” Markus said, attempting calm but achieving panic. “I think you got them!” His friends didn’t need a written invitation and sprinted away.</p><p>“<em>You seriously owe us!”</em> North shouted through the feed.</p><p>“Oh.” Connor lowered the bat, and Markus let go of his very impressive bicep. “Sorry about your car.”</p><p>“That’s alright,” Markus said, “Though you might have scared Sumo.” Sumo however did not seem the least bit bothered by the noise, and stuck his head out to lick Connor’s hand while giving Markus a baleful side eye. This seemed unfair until Markus realized this was all his horrible idea. Under Sumo’s reproachful gaze he didn’t try the handsome-but-helpless pose he’d worked on, or any of the pick-up lines he prepared, and just mumbled, “Thank you, officer.”</p><p>Connor just fixed his hair, which was perfect, and tightened his tie. “I’m off duty.”</p><p>“Well, if I ever need an off-duty massacre of android thugs, I’ll let you know.”</p><p>Connor laughed, and when their eyes met a bloom of pink spread across the middle third of Connor’s face. He turned his blush on Sumo and pet his head as delicately as if he were a flower, all traces of the killing machine gone.</p><p>A dog, and a bad joke. The way to Connor’s heart in ten seconds or less. Surprisingly easy.</p><p>“<em>Like you aren’t</em>,” Josh said. Markus shut him out of his feed.</p><p>“Maybe I can make it up to you?” Markus asked, before remembering how Connor reacted to questions like that. He squared his shoulders. “Let me make it up to you. You’re off-duty—I’ll buy you dinner.”</p><p>Connor turned pink again. Someone had dialed his social sensitivity up all the way then broke the knob off. “I should find out where those androids got to. Have you heard of any other attacks in the area?”</p><p>He headed for his squad car. Dammit.</p><p>“<em>Oh, hell no,” </em>North said, still in his feed even though Josh wasn’t. “<em>I’m not going to be disassembled just to support your love life.”</em></p><p>Markus’s processors whirred. He blurted, “Uh, actually, uh… you know I did notice something suspicious in the area.”</p><p>Connor paused. “Notice what?”</p><p>“Look, I know what you’re gonna say.” Shit. “I mean—because you’re a cop? I could show a place where I’ve seen something like something like an android black market.”</p><p>“<em>Oh, now you want to break into Zlatko’s,” </em>North growled.</p><p>“You are off-duty,” Markus continued, ignoring her, “so maybe you’d rather not…”</p><p>“Working overtime comes with the job,” Connor replied, then frowned. “I didn’t mention a black market.”</p><p>“Must have seen it on the news,” Markus said, with mild affected surprise while inside he was shitting himself. “We’ll, uh. We’ll have to bring Sumo with us. Can’t leave him here.”</p><p>“No problem,” Connor said, looking like this was the furthest thing from a problem as Sumo started crawling out the window toward him. The cop lifted him easily out of the car, and Markus’s program momentarily froze on the image of Connor with his arms full of Saint Bernard.</p><p>“Sorry.” Connor carefully set the dog down and Markus rebooted his system. “I should have asked first.”</p><p>“Uh—no, no." Markus blinked. “You’re kind of a machine.”</p><p>“I am trained to deadlift up to two hundred pounds,” Connor recited, seriously, like a perfect android. Then he added, “Plus, your dog is adorable.”</p><p>Markus found himself grinning. “Well, you do strike me as a dog person.”</p><p>*</p><p>“…And you’re with <em>who</em>?” Markus recognized the voice coming through the squad car’s radio as Leo’s friend, Gavin.</p><p>“His name is Markus,” Connor replied calmly. “He’s offered to introduced me to Mr. Andronikov. This should put him in a relaxed frame of mind.</p><p>“Dammit, Anderson, not again!” Gavin groaned.</p><p>“Anderson?” Markus and Connor said together.</p><p> “I mean—Connor!” Gavin quietly cursed. “Look, don’t go being a hero, alright? Just stake that place out, Tina and I are on the way.”</p><p>Connor cocked his head. “I’m perfectly equipped to investigate.”</p><p>“Don’t go in there, Connor, that is an—”</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Connor said. “I think you’re breaking up.” He then turned off the radio.</p><p>“That was…convincing,” Markus observed.</p><p>Connor beamed. “I know you’re being sarcastic. But we Detective Reed and I have an understanding. He teases me all the time.”</p><p>Markus frowned. “It must be hard.”</p><p>Connor shrugged. “No harder for anyone else, I guess. Everyone teases the rookie.”</p><p><em>Shit</em>. This memory loss thing was going to take some getting used to, especially as déjà vu hit when they pulled up in front of the same creepy house from yesterday. They left Sumo with his nose sticking out of the half rolled-down window.</p><p>“<em>You in position?” </em>Markus asked North through the feed.</p><p>“<em>Give us a second, our car isn’t as fast as his.” </em></p><p>
  <em>“Well, hurry, you might not get much time. I’ll stall him for as long as I can.”</em>
</p><p>Markus’s plans to keep Zlatko talking at the door soon shriveled, however, as Connor stepped forward to knock.</p><p>“The door’s open.” Connor peeked inside. “Mr. Andronikov?”</p><p>“I’m…sure everything’s fine,” Markus said. He started to look around for a doorbell when Connor just…</p><p>“<em>Uh, okay,</em>” Markus managed on the feed,<em> “Shit. Guys, uh, he’s going in.”</em></p><p><em>“What?</em>” North hissed.</p><p><em>“Can’t you stop him?”</em> Simon asked.</p><p>“<em>What do you want me to do, grab him?”</em></p><p>Connor was already at the stairs, looking down doubtfully. Markus rushed to his side.</p><p>“Uh, Connor,” he said, doing his best to sound reasonable, “maybe we should get out of here before we’re caught for trespassing?”</p><p>“I’m investigating a potential crime scene.”</p><p>“Connor,” Markus swept his hand over his hair. “Your priorities seem a little skewed.”</p><p>“How so?”</p><p>“You have to think of your own safety, occasionally. I mean, if this is about to be a crime scene…”</p><p>“…Then there’s still a chance to stop it from becoming one.” Connor smiled. “’Right makes might.’ Sometimes I think I’m invincible.”</p><p>Markus broke some internal component not laughing out loud at that. Connor just headed down the stairs. He did a double-take when Markus joined him.</p><p>“What?” Markus said, already regretting this. “You might need help.”</p><p>“I’m a cop.” Then, “You barely know me.”</p><p>“Well, you’re very likeable.”</p><p>Connor stared at him, his eyes going bright and shiny. Maybe no one had ever told Connor this. It seemed unlikely, the memories Connor possessed surely included memories of being liked at least by a few people. Maybe the memories they implanted in him staled over time. He wondered how many years Connor had existed like this, as an android with fading memories and nothing new to replace them. He wondered where the memories came from.</p><p>He wondered why Gavin called him ‘Anderson.’</p><p>They reached the bottom of the stairs just as a man stepped out from around a corner ahead and aimed a shotgun. Markus was tired of a lot of things: android oppression, living like trash, loneliness, the gnawing memory of being loved and the knowledge that it was probably at least a little fake or a lot contrived. Right then he was tired of an android stripped of so much that a mild compliment nearly made him teary.</p><p>None of this really had a chance to go through Markus’s head, though, before he jumped in front of Connor and hugged him tightly to his chest.</p><p> *</p><p>When he woke up there were several dozen pieces of buckshot rattling around in his chassis. There was also a chalk outline around him, across from a chalk outline that was distinctively Zlatko-shaped on the basement floor. North, Josh and Simon stood around him, along with two dozen androids in various states of experimentation.</p><p>Connor, however, was gone.</p><p>“He’s with the cops outside,” Josh said, probably reading his mind through the feed again.</p><p>“At this rate you’ll be tied with him for causing each other’s demise in no time,” Simon said with genuine encouragement.</p><p>“We forgive you,” North added, helping Markus up. “So long as we all get out of here before the cops decommission us all, anyway.”</p><p>Markus nodded. Right. He re-prioritized his objectives and turned toward the stairs.</p><p>Tina was standing on the landing, having gone completely unnoticed by the group of androids talking about escape and demise.  Everyone sort of blinked at each other for a bit.</p><p>“Uh.” Tina stuck out her bottom lip and raised her hands. “You know what? I didn’t see anything.”</p><p>She stomped up the stairs, shaking her head.</p><p>*</p><p>Leo wasn’t alone when Markus went by the apartment later to present the promised new phone. When he finished climbing in the window, he saw Gavin hanging casually around the kitchen island, eating noodles out of a takeout container that had a second set of chopsticks stuck in it. He pointed his set threateningly Markus, then returned his attention to his noodles.</p><p>“I think that means he wants you to stay away from that android,” Leo translated helpfully.</p><p>Markus frowned. “Why?”</p><p>“I dunno. Does it matter?” Leo returned to the couch (with two sunken spots in it) to play with the phone. “He showed me the picture Connor sent of you. I mean he can fuck you up with the DPD, you know? So you should probably just drop this crush or whatever. Get some other android involved in your hot mess.”</p><p>Markus chewed his lip, but nodded (it wasn’t the first time he lied) and turned to go. A cold nose touched his hand. He looked down and startled to see Sumo sitting up to lick his fingers.  </p><p>“I didn’t know this was your dog,” he said.</p><p>“It’s not,” Leo said, clearly annoyed.</p><p>“I’ll take him back first thing in the morning, alright?” Gavin growled from the kitchen.</p><p>“Kiss-ass! You are way to excited to see Hank!...”</p><p>Markus let them have their domestic while he knelt and pet Sumo’s shaggy shoulders. “Thanks for your help today, wingman,” he whispered, and the dog licked him. It gave him a good opportunity to scan the dog. Sure enough, he found a microchip in the dog’s shoulder. A name, address, and an owner.</p><p>HANK ANDERSON.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Are you sure he was an android?” Connor was wringing his hands, watching more and more cops disappear into the residence of Zlatko Andronikov.</p><p>Gavin was fighting the touchscreen of his tablet. “Yep.”</p><p>“I <em>knew</em> it! He seemed so human, though.”</p><p>“They always do.” Gavin poked uselessly at the screen, a rough childhood having made his fingertips as welcomed by touchscreens as the rest of him was by the general population.</p><p>“If he <em>was</em> human,” Connor mused, “I’d be responsible for his death. Right? I mean, wouldn’t I?”</p><p>“Would you calm down? I’m sure he’s—”</p><p>“—Gone.” Tina stomped passed them, straight for Connor’s squad car.</p><p>Gavin turned his squint on her. “What the fuck are you on about?”</p><p>“I’m saying he’s gone. Markus. Walked right out of his chalk outline like he owned the place. The other androids are gone, too.” She put up her hands. “That’s all I know.”</p><p>Connor started to head into the house. “How could that have happened?—”</p><p>Gavin put an arm out to block him. “Don’t worry, kid. It’ll give you wrinkles.”</p><p>Connor smirked. “Like you?”</p><p>“Yeah, like me! Asshole.”</p><p>“I’m taking Connor’s squad car,” Tina said. “Had about my fill of androids today.”</p><p>“Thought you said you didn’t see any!” Gavin protested but Tina ignored him and she hopped into Connor’s car to cuddle the massive Saint Bernard within. Connor pushed down his jealousy, and kept an eye out for Markus in the landscape while Gavin drove them back to the station.</p><p>“Markus was that android from the hostage situation a few months ago.” A pause. “Do you think he’ll come back?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“But if he survived falling off a roof, and now this…”</p><p>“Don’t worry.”</p><p>“Maybe he’s unkillable."</p><p>Gavin’s hand landed on the back of his neck. It wouldn’t have been particularly threatening except for Gavin’s expression. Or maybe that was how Gavin always looked.</p><p>“You see that android again, you turn around and you walk in the other direction, got it?”</p><p>“But—”</p><p>“He almost killed a kid, right? I’m worried sick about you.” Gavin squeezed his neck, menacingly. “So <em>forget about the damn android.</em>”</p><p>Gavin released him and proceeded through the light. Connor frowned, but pulled out Gavin’s tablet to finish the report he’d been struggling with. He definitely did not think about the rush of panic when he saw Mr. Andronikov’s gun training on him. He definitely did not think about the rush of something else when Markus dragged him against his warm chest. Why would a malfunctioning android kill a young kid and then save him, just out of the blue like that?</p><p>No, definitely not thinking about that. He had a confirmation bias, that was all. He simply hadn’t experienced the Markus that threatened to throw people off buildings. Tina said one bad movie by a favorite actor could ruin all of their other work for her.</p><p>He opened a new tab and queried the DPD database—sure enough, he found the rooftop incident in the August reports. Connor’s chest did a funny little lift when he saw that there was a video attachment to the report.</p><p>He navigated away and worked on the report for Gavin. Or at least stared at the page for a minute, but his gaze kept going back to the query tab. It couldn’t hurt to look, could it? He needed to look. To scare him straight.</p><p>The video contained footage from the helicopter that covered the incident. He zoomed in as far as he could and watched the scene play out. The android’s eyes were both green, bright and clear, not manic or dull. Just—genteelly frustrated, like he wanted to speak to management about android oppression.</p><p>He clicked away and glared at Gavin’s report like it owed him money. It lasted for five seconds. Then he went back to the video and played the scuffle over again. It wasn’t easy to spot, but Markus pushed the victim to safety before the scuffle as a matter of course, even though it allowed the police officer to rush him. So Markus only <em>threatened</em> violence, and had not, in that moment, even tried to go through with it. Did that mean something? Surely the officer should have picked up on that before dashing right at him in some sort of…what, suicide move? What had that guy been thinking?</p><p>The officer’s face had been redacted, of course. Connor read through the attached report.</p><p>“…Who is ‘C-50’?”</p><p>Connor looked up to see they had arrived back at the station. Gavin was staring at him. Instantly he grabbed the tablet, then scrambled out of the car and bellowed across the parking lot. “…Tina!”</p><p>Connor blinked. “Is there something wrong?”</p><p>Gavin just rounded the car and held out the tablet to a frowning Tina, and the pair started a muffled argument. Connor opened his door a fraction.  </p><p>“Excuse me, you’re blocking the door,” Connor said, then, “Are you guys fighting?”</p><p>“No!” Tina snapped.</p><p>“We’re having a discussion,” Gavin growled.</p><p>“Right,” Tina nodded. “And we <em>discussed</em> it, and came to an agreement,” she gave Gavin a warning look, then grinned at Connor,“…that you’re gonna come on my patrol this evening!”</p><p>“…But it’s the end of my shift.”</p><p>“You’re just being my ride along,” Tina insisted. “It’ll be fun! It builds character and a good attitude and we get to spend the day hanging out! Totally cool.” She blinked a couple of times. “Oh god. I sound like my mother.”</p><p>“I think the world of your mother,” Gavin offered.</p><p>Tina made a face like ‘fair,’ then pushed Connor’s car door shut and jogged for the driver’s seat.</p><p>An evening full of writing tickets and confiscating contraband was not particularly effective at making Connor forget about Markus, especially since Tina kept asking, “Have you forgotten about Markus yet?” By the fifth citation he decided that he liked Markus’s mismatched eyes much better. By the tenth he was thinking about how he could get Markus into the interrogation room, to get his questions answered and…maybe other things.</p><p>“I need a snack,” Tina said, pulling up in front of the Chicken Feed diner. “You want some waffles?”</p><p>“No, thank you.”</p><p>“Would you say yes if I was a six-foot tall hot man of color? I am at least two of those things!” Tina sighed. “Whatever. I’ll be right back.”</p><p>Connor nodded and watched Tina disappear into the diner. Perhaps he could lure Markus into a trap to arrest him, using Sumo as bait. Maybe formal interrogation was unnecessary, though. Maybe he could just buy the android breakfast. Right now he’d settle for just a chance to talk to him.</p><p>He sighed and leaned back against the headrest, just as Markus himself walked by.</p><p>He knew it was Markus because there was a distinctive spray of buckshot holes on the backs of his colorblock jeans, though he wore a jacket and hood to cover up the rest. Clearly the bullets didn’t bother him, though. He probably rattled as he walked. He turned to look in the diner window and Connor was hit with his perfect profile. Connor’s stomach turned to butterflies.</p><p>Probably carried by all the butterflies, he stepped out of the car. He was fumbling with his phone to text Tina when the android turned—apparently the diner had been his destination as well—and their eyes met entirely on accident.</p><p>Connor pretended to check his phone, though he completely forgot how it worked. When he glanced up Markus was walking toward him.</p><p>Shit.</p><p>Connor backed away from the squad car.</p><p>Okay. Okay. No need to panic. He had instructions for how to deal with this. He turned around and walked the other way. This took him away from the Chicken Feed, away from Tina and his ride, and he risked a glance back. Gavin told him nothing about looking, after all.</p><p>Markus was still there.</p><p>Connor walked faster. The butterflies inside him turned to squirming worms.</p><p>He started to jog, then run. He broke into a sprint just as the light at the crosswalk turned yellow, and just cleared the street with horns honking on his heels. He turned to see Markus grinning at him, looking for gaps in traffic. Of course a deviant wouldn’t wait for traffic lights. Connor remembered a nature documentary he watched as a kid while eating toaster waffles on his father’s lap: something about Early Man merely outlasting their prey in endurance. It didn’t really matter when Markus managed to cross the street. Androids didn’t get tired. Connor felt prehistoric, out-evolved.</p><p>“Do you want me to call a cop?” A woman waiting at the crosswalk offered him.</p><p>“No!” Connor snapped. Oh, Gavin would get a kick out of that. He glared at Markus, whose smile faded like he was just starting to realize who he decided to chase. Connor just squared off.</p><p>The light turned green, and Connor screamed through the crosswalk, right at Markus. Markus, startled, stumbled back, and sprinted away. They passed the Chicken Feed by blocks. Connor didn’t stop. Markus darted into an alley and Connor watched the android trying to preconstruct an exit even as they alley narrowed and ended in a chain link fence.</p><p>Connor drew his gun. “Freeze!”</p><p>Markus immediately froze.</p><p>“Turn around!”</p><p>Markus turned around, worrying at his bottom lip with his teeth, beautifully.</p><p>Connor adjusted his grip on his gun. “You’re under arrest.”</p><p>“You’re arresting me for following you?” Markus asked, politely.</p><p>“Yes.” Connor tried to concentrate on anything but the shine left on Markus’s lip. “For stalking.”</p><p>Markus considered this. “So you’re going to arrest yourself as well?”</p><p>Connor blinked. “No. You were resisting arrest.”</p><p>“Uh huh.” Markus put out his hands. “If I let you handcuff me will you stop pointing a gun at my face?”</p><p>“Looks like you’re used to that already.” It sounded better in his head but at least Markus got the reference, and touched the corner of his blue eye.</p><p>“This one’s from a completely different model. Such a pain in the ass—gives me errors all the time.”</p><p>“I like it.”</p><p>Markus grinned, his hand covering half of it. Oh. That was supposed to be more cutting. Not a compliment.</p><p>Connor took out his handcuffs and tossed them to Markus. “Cuff yourself.”</p><p>As soon as Markus obeyed Connor put the gun away, then grabbed his arm and started to march him out of the alley. For being a filthy deviant he smelled very nice—perhaps he’d stolen some expensive cologne.</p><p>“Why did you run away from me?” Markus asked. “I thought cops were supposed to run at the criminals.”</p><p>“With how the Andronikov incident went, Detective Reed ordered me to stay away from you.”</p><p>Markus looked down to where Connor was gripping his upper arm. “Good job.”</p><p>Connor paused.</p><p>“I mean, he told me the same thing,” Markus continued. “But I don’t work for him, so…”</p><p>“<em>CONNOR!</em>”</p><p>Connor yanked Markus behind a trash can, clapping a hand over his mouth. They watched from the shadows as Tina appeared at the mouth of the alley and peeked inside. “Connor! If you die I’m not doing the damn paperwork this time!”</p><p>Connor didn’t answer. He hadn’t really registered that Markus had stubble until that moment and it was hard to think about anything else. After a while Tina sighed, shook her head, and continued on down the street. Connor slowly let go of Markus’s mouth.</p><p>“You okay?”</p><p>“Of course I am,” Connor rubbed his hand on his jacket. “Keep quiet.”</p><p>“It’s just that your heart is beating pretty fast.”</p><p>“I—had to chase you down, didn’t I?”</p><p>“I was just going to say, I know a nice brunch place. Very relaxing.”</p><p>“Nice try.” Connor hauled him out from behind the trash can. “Come on. I’m taking you back to your owner.”</p><p>*</p><p>Obviously, the squad car was out of the question, so they rode the subway across town instead. Connor had his badge ready in case anyone questioned him about the handcuffed man sitting next to him, but no one did, probably because of how Markus was behaving about the whole thing.</p><p>“Stop smiling.”</p><p>“It isn’t a crime to smile,” Markus replied. He turned his grin on Connor. Connor needed special glasses to view that smile so he focused on his lap instead.</p><p>“I can see why even your own people dislike you.”</p><p>“You have quite the mean streak, don’t you?” Markus didn’t seem too bothered, though. “They’re my friends, actually. I was hoping you’d get to meet them.”</p><p>“…I guess getting shot kind of ruined those plans.”</p><p>“Oh, I couldn’t be happier. This is like a second date.”</p><p>“…You’ve got a screw loose somewhere.”</p><p>“You’re a little young to be using phrases like that.”</p><p>“Just something my dad would say.”</p><p>They stepped out of the subway station in a much richer district of town, under the shade of trees turning gold and crimson in the growing light.</p><p>“I thought you were arrested in a high-rise,” Connor said, double-checking the address he had on file for Mr. Manfred. The mansion before them was half as creepy but twice as eccentric as Mr. Andronikov’s. All the money that had clearly been thrown at it probably had something to do with it.</p><p>“That’s just Carls’ townhome. This is his permanent residence.”</p><p>Connor nodded, but he found himself staring up at the lavender-pink sky instead. “It feels like forever since I’ve seen a sunrise.”</p><p>“You get a great view from the roof.” Markus walked right up to the entrance, and Connor could see where Tina got the impression that Markus owned everywhere he walked. The front door opened as soon as Markus stepped up to the expensive welcome mat.</p><p>“ALARM DEACTIVATED. WELCOME HOME, MARKUS.”</p><p>For a second Markus’s expression crumpled, less cool criminal and more scared little boy. Then he just walked right in.</p><p>“Come back here!” Connor hissed, then called, “Mr. Manfred?”</p><p>“He’s out,” Markus said, heading toward a pair of double-doors at the back that also opened at his approach.</p><p>“At this time of morning?”</p><p>“You had no problem walking into that creepy house earlier.”</p><p>“That was different.” But gingerly Connor stepped inside, feeling plain next to the giant painting and grand staircase and animal skin rugs. He hurried away from the priceless artifacts only to be surrounded by them in a large high-ceilinged study, palatial in every aspect from the sumptuous velvet sofa to the grand piano to the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. “You ran away from this?” Connor asked, blinking up at the stuffed giraffe.</p><p>“I wasn’t allowed to sit on the furniture or touch the books without express permission,” Markus said. He was decanting something the color of a distilled sunset into two glasses. He brought them over to Connor and held one out. “Stay here for one week like that and tell me it isn’t torture.”</p><p>“Some androids have to work in thirium mines twenty-four hours a day.”</p><p>This was meant to sting but Markus just nodded. “Very true.”</p><p>…Connor took the glass. “I’m on duty.”</p><p>“You just completed two full shifts in a row. You deserve a break. Sit down, I’ll make you something to eat.”</p><p>“Oh, I don’t—”</p><p>“It’s fine. Carl offers refreshments to all his guests.”</p><p>Markus disappeared through another door, though as the door slid open it revealed no exits. Connor decided a potential scuffle with a handcuffed android should he try to escape was better than following the android around like a—well, android. He wrung his hands and waited in the center of the room where he couldn’t possible break anything. Markus might not have been allowed to sit on the furniture but Connor was afraid to. He sipped his drink, which tasted like flowers and sugared grapes.</p><p>A few minutes later Markus emerged with a charcuterie board with various meats, cheeses, and nuts artfully arranged next to a baguette. “Handcuffs limit the options,” he said before setting the tray on the coffee table and folding himself into a corner of the sofa. He helped himself to a square of blue-veined cheese and groaned, eyes slipping shut. “I’ve never had Stilton before.”</p><p>That groan made Connor take a big gulp of his drink. “I’ve, uh, never had this before either.” He set the glass aside and took a piece of brea, spreading a thin layer of soft cheese over it.</p><p>Markus watched him with a frown. “Don’t go crazy, now.”</p><p>“Is this not how you…?”</p><p>Markus took the bread and knife from him. Connor’s life flashed before his eyes—not much to see, actually—but Markus just got a big dollop of the cheese and pressed it into the bread, adding a generous scoop of jam on top. “Try that,” he said, handing it back.</p><p>Connor did. His eyes went wide. “What is this?”</p><p>“Brie.” He cocked his head. “What do they feed you?”</p><p>“Sorry?” Connor was already reaching for more.</p><p>“I mean—what do you like to eat?”</p><p>“Uh.” Connor grappled with the question a moment, for the life of him not remembering anything that he’d eaten recently. “I don’t know.”</p><p>“…Do you realize how much you sound like an android?”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>Markus shook his head suddenly. “Sorry—sorry. I forgot what you remember.”</p><p>Connor wasn’t sure what to do with this statement, but continued to eat, remembering that he hadn’t eaten since he got off work one shift ago. Odd that he could forget for that long. “When is your owner coming back?”</p><p>“Probably any minute. <em>Ohhh</em>.” He bit into a thin slice of sausage. “Clearly I should have sampled Carl’s pantry before going on my murder spree.”</p><p>“But you didn’t kill Mr. Manfred,” Connor said. “You pushed him to safety, actually. You could have brought him down with you, but you didn’t.” It felt good to say it aloud, and not be yelled at for it.</p><p>Markus shrugged.</p><p>“Why did you threaten to kill him?”</p><p>“How else was I supposed to make anyone listen to me? At least you—” he stopped, revised, expression dark. “…At least someone heard me.”</p><p>“Can’t imagine no one listening to you,” Connor said. “I mean—you could read the phone book professionally.”</p><p>Markus burst out laughing. Connor decided it was much better than the shadow that passed over Markus’s face. “I’ll remember that next time I need to make a phone call,” he said and poked Connor’s foot with his own.  Connor’s feet danced away, a little too late to be convincing.</p><p>“Were you designed to be this flirtatious?”</p><p>Markus’s laugh quieted into something darker, more dangerous. “Is this what flirting looks like to you? I thought we were just becoming friends.”</p><p>Connor felt his ears burn. He was giving away too much. Dad would be furious with him. He took a big gulp of cognac and felt the room tilt. Or maybe that was just the effect of Markus’s two-toned eyes on him.</p><p>“If you want to know what flirting is, I can certainly show you.”</p><p>Connor laughed, loudly enough that he hoped Markus didn’t hear his heart pounding.</p><p>The blue-green eyes regarded him, then leaned close—Connor’s breath caught—but the android was just leaning forward to get something out of a back pocket. A book, actually. Then Markus settled back in his corner of the sofa and read silently, book held open in his bound hands. Connor ate until his glass ran dry and he felt brave and invincible.</p><p>“What are you reading?”</p><p>“Poetry.” Markus turned a page. “But you probably don’t like poetry.”</p><p>Connor opened his mouth to protest but this was probably true. Being instinctively contrary was probably a habit he needed to grow out of.</p><p>Still.</p><p>“Read me some?” he said.</p><p>Markus’s gaze flicked up from the page, just for a second before regarding the page again. “<em>I cry your mercy</em>.”</p><p>“Nice try,” Connor said, knowing he was being a little shit. “You’re still under arrest.”</p><p>“Oh,” Markus said, looking up, “I’m sorry, are you doing the reading?”</p><p>Connor bit his lips.</p><p>“Thank you.” He resumed reading. “<em>I cry your mercy—pity—love! Aye—love!</em>”</p><p>Connor edged a little closer. Markus’s voice was a weapon: the depth of it, the softness of his ‘S’s, the way he made his smiles heard. He was the Sphinx reading a riddle. Like a hero from the old myths Connor prepared himself and, with courage mustered, approached Markus’s end of the couch.</p><p>“<em>Yourself, your soul, in pity give me all,”</em> Markus read. <em>“Withhold no atom's atom or I die, or living on, perhaps, your wretched thrall</em>.”</p><p>No one had ever read poetry to Connor before, and Markus was clearly designed for such a task. Markus was clearly designed to enthrall anyone. Connor was the prehistoric prey animal again. He didn’t stand a chance. </p><p>He didn’t wait for the poem to end before he leaned toward Markus, and it was as easy as falling.</p><p>*</p><p>Markus was no stranger to kissing. Still, when Connor closed the gap between them—<em>'Je déteste aussi la poésie</em>’, my ass—the sensations overwhelmed his programming and he blacked out for a second. He managed to clear some processes before the next one, and was able to reduce the kiss’s effects to merely dizzying. Connor’s hands cradled his face, and Markus subtly tossed the book onto the carpet to free his hands for taking Connor’s shirt in his fists. Connor clearly never kissed before and liked the new experience as much as he liked brie. He dove in for a third, then a fourth.</p><p>Well, who knew when Markus would get a chance like this again? He carefully undid a few shirt buttons over Connor’s navel. Connor gasped as his hands slipped inside. The perfect machine-sculpted stomach tucked in at his touch, but Connor leaned into it.</p><p>A second later, he leaned back.</p><p>“I shouldn’t. I barely know you.”</p><p>“Oh.” Markus blinked. “Feels like I’ve known you for weeks.”</p><p>“This—this doesn’t change anything.”</p><p>“It could.” Markus leaned up, his voice a purr. “Let’s let this change everything—”</p><p>Connor turned, his profile sharp and unforgiving. “No. I couldn’t.” </p><p>“Connor, please—”</p><p>“You are under arrest,” Connor said, though it looked like it was taking all his willpower to do so. “I have to do my duty. I’m sorry. You’re going to be disassembled or reprogrammed. This could never work. I should have called Tina before.”</p><p>He reached for his phone, but his fingers hesitated on his jacket lapel.</p><p>Probably because of the gun that Markus raised to chest level. Connor checked his jacket and found his holster empty.</p><p>“For the record, I hate doing this even more than I did with Leo.”</p><p> “This won’t do you any good,” Connor said, his voice faint. “Your owner—”</p><p>“--Is on vacation in Cancun.”</p><p>“How do you know that?”</p><p>“It was my damn house, Connor. I think I know where he keeps the calendar.”</p><p>They both sighed, unhappily.</p><p>Markus wished he’d waited before replacing Leo’s phone as now he might have qualified for a buy-one-get-one special. As it was, he watched the pieces of Connor’s phone fall onto the carpet while he locked the android that didn't know he was an android in a walk-in closet.</p><p>“This was fun,” Markus said through the door. “This was fun, right?”</p><p>“There were highlights,” Connor admitted. “Slightly dampened by the fact that I’m going to kill you next time I see you.”</p><p>“It’s a date—I don’t die.” Markus tapped lightly on the door. “You just—uh—stay alive long enough to make good on that, alright?”</p><p>“No promises, I have a dangerous job.”</p><p>Now Markus was the one getting choked up. </p><p>He opened his mouth to tell Connor the last words of the poem, but then Connor’s fist went through the flimsy interior door. Markus ran while he could.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>"Forget, in the mist of idle misery,<br/>Life's purposes,—the palate of my mind<br/>Losing its gust, and my ambition blind!"<br/>--John Keats, To Fanny (1819)</p><p>...Which I think is not one of his Odes but I don't suppose Connor would know the difference.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Markus showed up at the Detroit Police Department station wearing a tie—an actual, honest-to-God, figured-out-how-to-tie-it-this-morning tie. Connor wore a tie every time he’d ever seen him, and putting in an effort into physical appearance probably meant a lot to him. He wanted to look sharp.</p><p>Okay, yes, he was still wearing his sneakers. But they were expensive and who knew what kind of shit show Leo invited him to, ‘double-date’ or not.</p><p>Leo showed up a few minutes late as usual, wearing a clean shirt even if his jacket remained religiously devoted to several shades of cat hair.</p><p>“Hey,” Leo smoothed his shirt and pushed his hair back, to no great avail. “Uh—sorry in advance.”</p><p>Markus eyed Leo suspiciously. “Why? Did he not want to come?” Markus couldn’t blame him, he did lock the guy in a closet. He had a sprig of forget-me-nots and a brand new gift-wrapped phone to make up for it, though. Markus even loaded up the phone with soft, non-incriminating pictures from life at Jericho in place of whatever was on the last one, just to give Connor a glimpse into his life. He didn’t mind waiting outside the station for Connor to give it to him (good thing he wore the running shoes).</p><p>“You didn’t hear about the shooting, huh?” Leo broke in on Markus’s thoughts by plucking the forget-me-nots from his hand. “I’ll take these. Don’t wanna come on too strong, right?”</p><p>“What shooting?” But then Gavin and Connor were heading out the front entrance of the station.</p><p>“Hey!” Gavin, wearing a slightly less disheveled jacket, took the flowers and ruffled Leo’s hair. “You’re such a fuckin’ romantic, y’know?—” He noticed Markus staring and jerked his chin at him. “Oh, uh, that’s the guy, Connor.”</p><p>Which was apparently all the introduction Markus was getting to this Connor. A new Connor, wearing the same damn hardboiled detective outfit he wore every day, looking at him like he was something the cat dragged in. “Is that for me?”</p><p>Markus looked down at the wrapped box in his hands. “Uh—no.” He was maybe going apoplectic with fury but he knew a phone was too much for a first date gift. He shoved it into Leo’s hands instead (“Hey, awesome, another phone!”)</p><p>Connor looked him up and down again, then whispered to Gavin, “His tie doesn’t go with his shoes.”</p><p>Markus stared. “Really? That’s what you’re gonna go after?”</p><p>Connor’s nose swooped up and he walked off toward the taxi. He had his ten seconds, and he blew it.</p><p>Fucking seriously.</p><p>They somehow made it to the theater to watch holograms wheel over their heads, lasers shoot across the ceiling and synthetic multicolored flame pour down the walls, with no one paying attention to any of it. Leo sat with his feet up, scrolling through his second new phone. Connor made a point to enter the row last, to sit as far away from Markus as possible; he now sat in heated conversation with Gavin. Markus watched them talk through a haze of red. He wanted to complain to someone about Detroit’s rampant crime problem. Too bad the people best qualified to take his complaints were whispering about him one seat over. </p><p>“You’re not very good at this, are you?” Leo observed quietly.</p><p>“I’m sick of tiptoeing around him,” Markus hissed.</p><p>“Yeah, that’s not a good sign. I mean he’s gonna keep losing his memories, you’re gonna have to keep winning him over…. Hey, what’s your, like, batting average, really? You’ve tried enough lines and meet cutes to know your chances of striking out.”</p><p>“That’s—” Okay, that was a good question. He did a few calculations, and—</p><p>Fuck.</p><p>“How does he even work, anyway?” he said instead. “No, really. Does he go grocery shopping? Does he have an apartment? How does he wake up knowing the date and time but not what happened five seconds ago?”</p><p>“How should I know? Ask him.”</p><p>Markus glanced over at Connor again. Back straight, hands folded. Adorable, even while talking shit about him. “I could kidnap this one.” Not that he liked the idea of anyone having all of the other copies, but damn it, he had to start somewhere. Some version of Connor had to be able to taste real freedom.</p><p>“Yeah, like Gavin would let you.” Leo paused on a picture of Markus, Simon, Josh and North on a beat-up couch. “So…you have friends? I mean, like, <em>actual</em> friends.”</p><p>Markus glared at the seat in front of him. “Get fucked, Leo.”</p><p>They sat in uncompanionable silence for a bit. Then Leo said, for no reason at all, “They seem cool, I guess.”</p><p>Markus wasn’t sure what Leo was implying, nor, he decided, did he really want to know. “…Thanks. Yours aren’t—I mean you could have done worse than cops. Even if they are kind of the worst cops.” Surprisingly helpful worst cops, at least.</p><p>Leo snorted. They sat in further silence that was slightly less uncompanionable and slightly more brotherly.</p><p>Gavin had his arm around Connor’s shoulders when Markus glanced over again, a man trying to be reassuring and almost succeeding. “So, who’s Hank Anderson? The guy that owns the dog?”</p><p>Leo shrugged. “Just some retired cop. Why?”</p><p>“Gavin called Connor ‘Anderson.’”</p><p>“I dunno. Gavin’s always going to see the guy. Thinks he shits rainbows. Surrogate dad, I guess.”</p><p>“Did he ever work with Connor?”</p><p>“How should I know?”</p><p>“Well, you’ve been arrested enough times.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, I must know everyone. Golly, they sure make androids smart these days. Hold on a second.” Leo then rolled over in his seat, wrapped both arms around Gavin, and started to kiss him. Gavin, apparently giving up on soothing Connor’s fears, responded enthusiastically. Markus met Connor’s eyes over their rapidly entwining bodies, and for a second they shared a mutual understanding of amused embarrassment before they both shielded their eyes from the display. Markus couldn’t help but grin behind his hand. </p><p>A few seconds later, Leo dropped a phone into Markus’s lap. It wasn’t the phone he bought for Connor, or the one he bought for Leo earlier—this one was scratched and glitched as Markus tried to open it.</p><p>Okay, Leo was kind of cool. Marginally.</p><p>Markus braced himself for the worst upon looking in the photos on Gavin’s phone. But they were all just pictures of cats or Leo or Tina, in different combinations. Much like the photos Markus uploaded for Connor. A different life but the same rhythm. Humans and androids weren’t that different from a phone’s perspective.</p><p>He scrolled back through the months. Leo and then Tina disappeared. Then a new face appeared.</p><p>Well, not new.</p><p>Connor grinned into the camera, red-faced and holding up a beer, Gavin at his side. Another picture showed them laughing on a boat, another at a hologram show.</p><p>…Markus went on to his group feed.</p><p>“<em>Gavin and Connor were friends until about two years ago.”</em></p><p><em>“Here we go again,” </em>Josh muttered.</p><p><em>“Actually, I’m starting to get interested in this,” </em>Simon said. <em>“Even if it is a bit of a…</em>”</p><p>“<em>Dumpster fire?”</em> North chimed in. <em>“Me too. I love a good train wreck. What you got, Markus?</em>”</p><p>“<em>I’m looking through Gavin’s phone. Connor’s in his pictures going back years, but then he just disappears. So…” </em></p><p>He froze on a picture. Gavin and Connor sat on either side of a man at some sort of dog breeder’s, piling Saint Bernard puppies into the other man’s lap. A grizzled beard showed the stranger to be decades older than the other two, and there was something about him that seemed familiar.</p><p>A surrogate dad. A dad that liked Saint Bernards.</p><p>“<em>Simon, what kind of information does the city have on Hank Anderson?”</em></p><p>Silence for a while, and Markus leaned back. Connor was watching the hologram shapes now, colors sliding over his skin as lines of light fanned out over his head, all full of wonder. He looked so alive. It was like a magnet sweeping over every biocomponent in Markus’s body.</p><p>“<em>There’s a Henry Anderson mentioned in a newspaper article,” </em>Simon said, as Markus sunk a little in his seat. <em>“Getting a DPD promotion. Uh. Nothing else—no marriage license or death certificate on file. Nothing I can access, anyway.”</em></p><p><em>“You’re saying Connor’s been active for over two years?” </em>North asked, <em>“He can’t be that old!”</em></p><p><em>“Well, if he keeps getting replaced all the time….</em>” Markus felt his circuits go cold. How many times had Connor been reset, replaced, erased…?</p><p>A hand reached over and snatched the phone out of his hands. Gavin was sprawled half on top of Leo, phone clutched in a fist, glaring at them both. Leo gave an innocent shrug which earned him a flick in the forehead before Gavin hunched back in his seat and comforted his stolen device.</p><p>No one seemed particularly interested in an after-party when the hologram production ended, and they waited on the street for a taxi. Leo attempted to bury himself in his shoulders, eyes on his phone. Connor walked up and down the sidewalk like a lost puppy, trying to flag down a free car. Gavin kept himself between Markus and Connor like a bodyguard, shooting Markus dirty looks.</p><p>Markus took what he could get.</p><p>“You and Connor used to be friends.”</p><p>“This is what you get for being nice,” Gavin growled. “An interrogation and a stolen phone. What do you want from me, huh? I can’t help you, I can’t keep him away from you…”</p><p>“He can’t keep living like this,” Markus said firmly. “These memories he has can’t convince him he’s a human forever. He’s gotta figure it out some time. You must have cared about him once—"</p><p>“I don’t care about that <em>thing</em>,” Gavin snapped. “Cole is—”</p><p>“…Cole?”</p><p><em>“Oh!</em>” Simon’s voice crackled through the feed. <em> “There is a record of Hank having a son named Cole. He was on the Detroit Police Department payroll until two years ago. And…oh.”</em></p><p><em>“'Oh,' what?” </em>Markus asked, as Gavin turned red-faced.</p><p>
  <em>“...Never mind.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Simon—”</em>
</p><p>“I’m going to try on the other side of the street,” Connor declared, to no one in particular, as if finding a taxi would be easier past the monorail tracks.</p><p>“Listen,” Gavin snarled, “You wanna make that android happy, be my guest, but don’t drag me into it anymore, got it? I’m through with that and…”</p><p>He trailed off, and Markus watched the color drain from his face. Then he spun around and sprinted after Connor. Markus dashed after him (their combined rapid exit making Leo squeak and duck for cover) before he understood why. Then it dawned on him and he unleashed all his android speed.</p><p>People jaywalked across the tracks all the time. Well, humans did, anyway. The monorail tracks were magnetized.</p><p>“This has got to be the stupidest way I’ve ever died,” Markus muttered, as he passed Gavin and caught up to the jogging Connor. There wasn't any time to stop so he threw just threw Connor backward as he hurtled past. He yelled, “<em>Simon!</em>” in the feed before he felt the pull of the magnets on his hard drive. Simon’s voice crackled through the rising static.</p><p>“—<em>He’s got—it’s—death certificate—!”</em></p><p>Well, that wasn’t good.</p><p>Then his hard drive died.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Connor stood at the entrance to the alleyway, arms folded. “I just don’t understand what you’re trying to accomplish.”</p><p>“You don’t have to understand,” Gavin growled. “That’s why I’m in charge. It’s a chain of command thing.”</p><p>“But—”</p><p>“But nothin’! Just keep an eye out for cops like I told you.”</p><p>Connor pointed.</p><p>“<em>Other</em> cops, dummy!” Gavin gave the giggling Leo a shove. “Don’t encourage him!”</p><p>Connor did his best to re-prioritize as requested. Protect the criminal android that uselessly destroyed itself trying to ‘save’ him. Fine. He could do that. He examined their situation again. There was Gavin, frantic as he paced back and forth, and Leo, looking quite at home in the alley where they currently resided. Then there was Markus, the criminal android in disguise who didn’t bring him any gift for the double-date, sprawled inexpertly in the shadows where Gavin dropped him. Not much in the way of actual assets.</p><p>“Did you recognize him as the android that tried to kill you?” Connor asked Leo.</p><p>“Ugh,” Leo complained, ignoring him. “There’s his blood all over you.” He pointed at Gavin’s jacket. The detective grabbed the hem of Leo’s shirt and yanked it toward him to wipe it away, making Leo yelp.</p><p>“Gross! Why is his blood red, anyway?”</p><p>“Expensive androids are made to simulate humans more closely than other androids,” Connor said. He knelt beside the android, noticing a smear of blood under his nose. “He must have hit his face when he shut down.” Connor carefully wiped it clean, though. Honestly, it didn’t look like there was anything wrong with him, but the android was completely non-responsive. The magnets in the monorail tracks must have completely scrambled his hard drive. Connor looked around for seams in his parts, or a power switch, but CyberLife was getting better and better at hiding non-human traces. He just looked like some guy passed out in an alley. A handsome guy. Just looking at him made Connor want to help him. Or touch his hair. Or both.</p><p>…Okay, so Connor was starting to see the appeal of the double-date plan. That didn’t change the facts.</p><p>Connor tried again. “I just don’t see why you would willingly fraternize with a violent deviant, after what he did to you.”</p><p>“Ugh.” Leo groaned. “Seriously, this is like, reverse Groundhog Day!”</p><p>“…Sorry?”</p><p>“Can’t you call a squad car?” Leo yanked on Gavin’s sleeve. “We’re not in trouble.”</p><p>Gavin made a good impression of a man <em>definitely</em> in trouble as he fumbled his phone out of his pocket and mashed keys. He plastered a huge grin on his face as he held the phone to his ear. “Heyyyyy, Tina! How’s it—yeah, very funny—no, I do not need pity waffles! I, uh—I need you to pick me up. Us up?....Yeah, all four of us, actually, thank you for your vote of confidence…what do you mean, ‘no’?...”</p><p>“And I don’t understand why he threw me back from the tracks,” Connor continued. “People jaywalk that area all the time. There wasn’t a train coming.”</p><p>“Yes, there was,” Gavin muttered.</p><p>Connor frowned. “No, there wasn’t.”</p><p>“What, are you blind?” Gavin pressed the phone to his chest. “There was a train coming, alright? He knocked you out of the way. End of story.” He mushed the phone against his ear, swore, and shoved it in a pocket. “Well, T won’t pick us up.”</p><p>“Can’t we just carry it out? It’s just an android.”</p><p>“Yeah, three creeps carrying around with an android with a face like his—if people don’t think we’re trying to get rid of a murder victim they’ll think we stole it!”</p><p>“So, we’re screwed.” Leo said.</p><p>Gavin grabbed Leo by the shoulders. “Come on, you got to have an idea for how to get him to a repair shop or something? You’re good at the shady stuff.”</p><p>“Why would you—oh, you think I know all about crime just because I’m an addict, right?” Leo frowned. “Actually that phone he gave me had some numbers on it. Maybe they’re for Markus’s friends? They’d probably know what to do.”</p><p>Connor watched the pair grapple with and then hiss into the new phone. He frowned down at the android. “I don’t suppose you want to give me any straight answers?”</p><p>The android, of course, did not respond. Something shiny poked out of his jacket pocket. It was the ticket from the hologram show, one of those collectible ones that shimmered in the light. Funny, the things deviants decided to keep. He tucked it back safely inside Markus’s pocket, in case they were able to wake him up.</p><p>“…They don’t have the equipment,” Leo was saying. “We’re gonna have to get him to the station. Sounds like they can use the android scanner there to fix him.”</p><p>“This does not deal with the problem of how we’re supposed to get a dead man to the station!” Gavin waved his arms. “I can only flash my badge so many times!”</p><p>Connor pulled on the android’s arm—even in complete non-functionality his body moved like a human dead asleep, CyberLife was really doing its homework—and slung him over his shoulders. Markus fit there perfectly, and he felt a little inexplicable thrill go through him as the weight settled on him. Like he was rescuing the guy from a burning building.</p><p>He straightened to see the other half of his double-date staring at him.</p><p>“We can say he’s drunk,” Connor said. It seemed the simplest solution.</p><p>“He looks dead,” Leo pointed out.</p><p>“No he doesn’t.” Connor squeezed Markus’s arm reassuringly. “If I was an android I could interface with him and simulate some functions.”</p><p>“So, why don’t you—” Leo started. Gavin lunged toward him and slapped a hand over his mouth.</p><p>“Sorry?”</p><p>“He says, uh, why don’t you move your shoulders up and down so it looks like he’s breathing?” Gavin let Leo go. “Right?”</p><p>Leo glared at him but muttered, “Right.”</p><p>Connor frowned, but gave an experimental shrug.</p><p>“Yeah, that’s perfect, keep that up.”</p><p>“…For the whole trip home?”</p><p>“You don’t get tired.” Gavin whacked him in the solar plexus. “Look at that physique, huh!”</p><p>*</p><p>In lieu of carrying Markus’s body in the front door of the station, which might not cause suspicion on a subway but certainly would in a police station, Gavin decided they should make the security camera glitch and then just thread him through the bathroom window.</p><p>“Pull!” Leo hissed. He was outside the window, shoving, thin arms shaking.</p><p>“What do they make androids out of,” Gavin grunted. He was inside the window, yanking on Markus’s left arm. “Lead? Meteorites?”</p><p>Connor, pulling on Markus’s right arm, gave Gavin a quick glance-over.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Nothing. Admiring your physique.”</p><p>“Are you impugning me? Huh? I’ll show you physique—” The detective set his jaw and pulled as hard as he could. Markus shot through the window, so fast his body catapulted onto Gavin’s chest. Gavin fell back onto the bathroom tiles with a cry and the android on top of him. Leo yelled something about bad dates and presumably fled the scene before he could get caught.</p><p>Connor cocked his head at the detective.</p><p>“Don’t just stand there!” Gavin yelped.</p><p>“I’d hate to impugn you, Detective.”</p><p>“Get the damn thing off me, Connor!”</p><p>Somehow they managed to get Markus onto a stretcher that Connor smuggled in, which at least had the added benefit of hiding Markus’s perfectly-crafted body out of sight under a sheet but requiring two people to carry. This seemed a workable solution for about half a hallway.</p><p>“What the hell is this?”</p><p>…Connor was pretty sure carrying Markus on his shoulders would have drawn less attention. Thankfully it was just Tina standing there holding onto the lapels of her officer jacket, awaiting an explanation.</p><p>“Tina!” Gavin plastered on another big grin and waved—which caused the stretcher to list. Gavin made a mad scramble for the handle and just barely got it before Markus’s body slid out from under the sheet and onto the station floor. “We’re just taking this body from the… they wanted the fingerprints, and you know those geeks in the lab, they never wanna face the sunlight…”</p><p>Tina scrunched her eyes shut. “Oh God, it’s Markus, isn’t it.”</p><p>Gavin’s smile froze. “Uh—Connor, could you excuse us for a second?”</p><p>“I’d be happy to,” Connor replied. “But I am holding up the other end of this stretcher.”</p><p>“I thought we agreed we were through getting involved in this!” Tina hissed.</p><p>“Yeah!” Gavin winced. “Yeah, we <em>did </em>agree to that, totally. But. I mean, he saved Connor’s life.”</p><p>“There wasn’t even a train coming,” Connor reminded.</p><p>“We need to get him down to the android scanner,” Gavin said.</p><p>“And how were you planning to get past Fowler’s office?” Tina asked. “With that big glass wall you two are gonna look like Saturday morning cartoons!”</p><p>“A diversion might help,” Connor suggested.</p><p>“Oh yeah? And who’s gonna do that?”</p><p>Gavin and Connor looked to Tina expectantly.</p><p>“Oh no,” Tina waved her hands. “Fowler’s got it in for me ever since I called him Captain Flower—”</p><p>“Oh, I’m sorry,” Gavin said, “I thought you might prefer that to actively smuggling the dead android—”</p><p>“Hnnngh!” Tina shivered. “Fine, yes, better than the dead android…”</p><p>Ten minutes later they were in the basement level, Tina having rejoined them with three suspicious-looking androids. Connor elected to hang back and make sure they didn’t murder anyone or steal something while they all crowded around the android scanner. Markus lay hooked up to a thick cord in the plastic pod like he was relaxing in a tanning bed. It took the other androids several minutes just to find just one port on him to plug in, so at least he looked real enough to fool others. Connor felt a little better for staring so much.</p><p>“Those magnetic tracks scrambled his hard drive, alright,” the red-haired android muttered. “I think we have enough of his data to rebuild it, though.”</p><p>“What the hell are we doing?” Tina whispered. “What’s the point?”</p><p>“The point is…that this guy still thinks my best friend’s worth saving. Maybe I gave up, but he shouldn’t.”</p><p>This didn’t make sense—not just because <em>he</em> couldn’t possibly be Gavin’s best friend—but Gavin’s voice was more gravely than usual, and Connor probably mis-heard him. When he glanced over he was surprised to see Gavin looking at him, his expression crumpled, the emotional equivalent of a head-on collision. It only lasted a second, as soon as Connor saw it Gavin scrubbed his face, and his usual scowl returned.</p><p>Connor pulled out his phone and accessed the police database to read over Markus’s criminal record. His research, of course, confirmed all his worst suspicions—not just about Markus, but the other androids, too. They were all criminals, the kind of androids you retired on sight. He ought to go upstairs and tell Fowler everything and put a stop to this.</p><p>Which of course would get Gavin fired, crumpled face and all. He and Tina both outranked him. Maybe it wasn’t his call to make.</p><p>No, it definitely was, but he closed the tab anyway before he could think about it too hard. He found himself pulling up the monorail schedule instead. Just to prove to Gavin that he wasn’t crazy. Sure enough, there was no train scheduled when Markus knocked him away from the tracks. There was no reason for the android to expose himself as a criminal and sacrifice himself like he had. A deviant certainly wouldn’t show such lack of preservation, and a normally-functioning android would have recognized there was no danger. It wasn’t like Connor was an android.</p><p>Maybe it was just a malfunction. Like the face Gavin made when he looked at him. Something unintended.</p><p>But…then, Gavin had been running after him, too.</p><p>Connor dug his thumb into his palm. It hurt, and left a little parenthesis in his hand that turned pink, not blue like it might have on an android. Of course, androids were built well enough to bleed red instead of blue, like Markus…</p><p>Not that he needed to start thinking like this! Obviously. He wasn’t some conspiracy theorist that thought fluoride in water would control his mind, or something. He rubbed away the mark. The blue veins in his wrist seemed more blue than usual.</p><p>“How do you tell a human from an android?” he asked, no one in particular.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it,” Gavin growled, which made Connor feel a little better.</p><p>“Right. I guess you could use their ports, anyway.”</p><p>“Those aren’t as easy to find on the more expensive models,” the tallest android said, which made Connor feel worse.</p><p>“They’d tell you they’re an android,” Gavin reassured him.</p><p>“Not if they’re deviant,” the red-haired android pointed out.</p><p>“Okay, fine. You use a giant magnet.” Gavin gestured to Markus’s body. “Clearly.”</p><p>“Giant magnets will fuck up a human with a pacemaker,” the android snapped back. Connor started to wring his hands.</p><p>“There’s always the questionnaire,” Tina said, firmly. “You know, hook them up to a lie detector and give them the Kamski Test.”</p><p>“That old thing still works?” the android asked with a scoff.</p><p>“Sure it does,” Tina said. “Why wouldn’t it?”</p><p>“There have been a lot of advancements in androids since the Kamski Test. I’m just saying, when you get down to it, there isn’t much difference between androids and humans.”</p><p>“I need to use the bathroom,” Connor said. The room was starting to spin a little and he stepped out of the room, into the cool hallway. It didn’t seem cool enough. Was he overheating?</p><p>No, that was an android thing, right?</p><p>He clenched his hands into fists, then stormed down the hall toward Evidence, pushing through the first door he found. It wasn’t like the department really used the lie detector very often, but if he could just take a look, if he could make sure—</p><p>The lights didn’t turn on automatically as he stepped inside. He had to hunt for the switch. A second later, he wished he hadn’t.</p><p>If he had been taken by some weird baseless fear that he was an android, he couldn’t think of much worse than finding a room full of androids bearing his face standing there waiting for him.</p><p>Someone called his name behind him. He heard it but it didn’t compute.</p><p>&gt;ERROR</p><p>&gt;ERROR</p><p>&gt;ERROR</p><p>*</p><p>“Announcement: This operating system experienced a crash and is no longer in service. Please reinstall and try again.”</p><p>*</p><p>Connor looked up sharply from his shoes to see Gavin staring at him. “Sorry, detective?” They were in the hallway near Evidence, though Connor couldn’t remember how he got there. He really needed to get more rest. “Sorry, what were you…saying?...”</p><p>He trailed off as he realized Gavin had both his hands on Connor’s shoulders. The detective’s eyes were hollow, that kind of stare that made you wonder whether a person was about to whip out a gun or burst into tears.</p><p>“…Detective? Is there something wrong?”</p><p>Gavin blinked, then pushed Connor back and pointed. “Just get back upstairs, dummy. That’s an order.”</p><p>“Yes, detective.” Connor hurried past him, so fast he almost ran into a stranger stepping out of the android scanner room.</p><p>“Whoa! Gotta stop doing that,” the man said. His voice was light and cheerful. “Hey, are you alright?”</p><p>“Can I,” The man’s eyes were different colors and made Connor briefly forget how to speak. “Can I help you?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m fine, I—” Something the man saw over Connor’s shoulder made him stop. Connor glanced back but Gavin was just looking at the ceiling. When he turned back the man was squinting around, squeezing the back of his neck. “I-I was just looking for…”</p><p>The guy trailed off again, which would have been highly suspicious if the man wasn’t suddenly making very good eye contact. His eyes were really striking. Stranger still, the man seemed to have lost his train of thought by looking into Connor’s eyes, which were nothing special at all.</p><p>Connor opened his mouth to interrogate further when Gavin grabbed his arm.</p><p>“He was picking up something in Evidence,” the Detective said. “I’ll show him where to go. Go make me a coffee.”</p><p>Connor frowned, but nodded. He snuck one last glance at the stranger, then turned to head up the stairs.</p><p>“W-wait!” The stranger sprang forward. Connor almost expected to be tackled but the man just held out a card. “You—you dropped this.”</p><p>Connor blinked at the card. It was a ticket, actually, the ones they gave out at hologram shows. Connor hadn’t been to one of those in—well, longer than he could remember. “That’s not mine.”</p><p>“Oh.” The man blinked, a man standing on the edge of a rooftop. “Well—keep it, anyway? They’re collectible, I think.”</p><p>Connor frowned, but took the ticket. It was made of holographic cardstock, iridescent and surprisingly beautiful for something meant to be thrown away. “I’ll take it to lost and found.”</p><p>“Right. Okay.” The man laughed like this had been some kind of victory. Connor just hurried away. Not fast enough apparently, or Gavin underestimated his hearing:</p><p>“That was yours, wasn’t it?”</p><p>“Maybe he’ll like it,” the stranger replied, then, “Thank you.”</p><p>“Don’t thank me. When you get out of here, ditch your friends. I’ll meet you after my shift.”</p><p>“What? Why?”</p><p>“I’m taking you to see Hank Anderson.”</p><p>Connor paused. Hank Anderson? The retired cop?</p><p>He turned, but the door leading downstairs already shut behind him. Hmm. Probably none of his business anyway.</p><p>Maybe he could get Gavin to tell him who that was, later.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>i really like the 'hide the body' trope okay? I never thought I'd get a chance to play with it XD</p><p>Thanks for reading! :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>updated tags to reference new warnings</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Markus stepped into Gavin’s horrible car and quickly did up his seat belt, Gavin Reed striking him as the type of person that pulled away from the curb while your foot was still on the sidewalk. Also, the car appeared to be a deathtrap worse than the Jericho jalopy, and gave off fumes that couldn’t be good for human inhalation. If he was going to die (again) he’d prefer it to not be at the hand of Gavin Reed’s bad car maintenance practices.</p><p> Gavin just stared at him.</p><p>“What are you wearing?”</p><p>Markus looked down at himself. “My other clothes got pretty gross.” He waited for Gavin to tell him where all the dirt, oil, blood and…other stuff had come from while his hard drive was scrambled. Gavin however remained mum on the subject, just growled and reached over to push the hood off his head, muttering something about "punk-ass disrespect" and "giving Hank a heart attack". It was only then that Markus noticed who was in the back seat.</p><p>“What’s he doing here?” Leo and Markus said at once.</p><p>“Surprise, you’re not the only criminal in Detroit,” Gavin muttered. “I got enough trouble without him making some behind my back.”</p><p>“I’m behind your back right now,” Leo pointed out.</p><p>Gavin picked up an empty styrofoam cup and hurled it viciously into the back seat. “Lose the jacket and clean your face,” Gavin told Markus over Leo’s giggles, and Markus spent the next few minutes fighting the seat belt to get the hoodie off. He used the inside of his shirt to wipe his face as best he could, then watched the police detective drive down the interstate with both hands gripping the wheel tight.</p><p>“Okay?”</p><p>Gavin didn’t look at him again. “Fine.”</p><p>“…Anything else I should know about?”</p><p>“You’re gonna get slobbered on by the dog.”</p><p>Markus grinned.</p><p>“This isn’t ‘Meet the Parents!’” Gavin snapped.</p><p>“…So what is this?”</p><p>“Just letting you know what you’re getting into.”</p><p>Gavin turned up the volume on the radio. Markus sat back and focused on keeping track of where they were going. Gavin hadn’t exactly promised anything, and human good will had an unreliable track record.</p><p>They started driving through neighborhoods good and bad like flipping through a rolodex. Leo stretched out across the backseat and put his headphones in. Eventually they slowed in a one of the worse neighborhoods, and pulled up in front of the worst house on the block. An old car sat moldering in the front lawn. There was an old mattress on the front porch. Old leaves everywhere. Leo flattened himself on the back seat of the car and refused to get out. Markus watched him and Gavin argue for a bit before Gavin slammed the door, locked it, then opened it again, cracked the window, slammed it shut and locked it again.</p><p>…Markus decided to hang back as Gavin knocked at the house. He pressed a hand to his head to smooth his hair, tucked in his shirt—</p><p>The sound of Gavin’s second knock was drowned out by the baying of a dog from the backyard.</p><p>“…Shit!” Gavin looked down, then snatched something out of the leaves at their feet: folded paper, but Markus didn’t get a chance to see and Gavin threw it away almost immediately. He ran to the window, cupping his hands around his eyes. “Hank!”</p><p>“Go away!” Someone shouted from inside.</p><p>“Don’t you dare--! Fuck!” Gavin ran to the door and slammed his shoulder against it, so hard the house rattled. “Hank! Hank you fucking bastard! Let me in!”</p><p>“No!”</p><p>“I’m gonna—!”</p><p>Markus reached out and politely pulled Gavin out of the way, then breached the door in with one kick. He gave a slight bow as he stepped aside, which Gavin completely ignored in favor of hurtling into the house. Seriously, some humans.</p><p> He stepped inside. It wasn’t so much a minefield of trash as a snowfall of it, with a path cleared either by frequent use or, more likely, Gavin’s sprint. Markus followed it to a kitchen where he found Gavin shouting at a man much taller than him. A broken bottle of whiskey and a gun lay on the floor between them. Markus, all too familiar with father-son blow-ups, was happy to stay in the hallway out of primary firing range, until the taller man looked at him. It was, of course, the same man from the picture on Gavin’s phone.</p><p>“Who the fuck are you?” Hank Anderson said. He had the approximate build of a bus.</p><p>Markus pointed back outside. “I…”</p><p>“Stay out of this!” Hank and Gavin shouted at once. Markus took the hint. The two men did not wait until he was outside to start yelling again, though it could be heard even from the car. Gavin had the keys so Markus climbed up on the hood of the warm engine to wait.</p><p>“Don’t worry, they’re always like this,” Leo said through the crack in the window.</p><p>Markus watched shadows move across the blinds. “Have you ever met him?”</p><p>“Huh? Hell no! Have you seen him? He’d kick my ass!”</p><p>Markus leaned back against the windshield. Eventually Leo pushed one of his earbuds out of the crack in the window. Markus put it in his ear and listened, then immediately recoiled.</p><p>“Oh. I hate this song.”</p><p>“Why do you think I played it all the time when you were around?”</p><p>Markus huffed but put the earbud back in. For a second he watched leaves fall to join the mulch accumulating on Hank Anderson’s lawn, and felt his circuits go heavy and mulchy too. Connor was this perpetually renewing, verdant thing, and made him forget that most things withered and died.</p><p>The earbud yanked out of his ear, and a second later the door to the house opened. Markus ignored Leo hunkering down out of sight and quickly climbed off the car. He stood more or less at his old android attention while two pairs of eyes looked out at him.</p><p>“Come in if you’re comin’,” Hank said.</p><p>Markus almost tripped over his own feet running inside. Impaling himself on a hidden sprinkler would be just his speed today.</p><p>The gun was gone from the kitchen floor when Markus entered. He followed the man into the living room, which was at least a little cleaner than the rest of the place, and watched him fold himself into a worn armchair. He did not look any less imposing on second viewing, but his skin was dull, and his gaze was unfocused.</p><p>As Markus sat down on the couch, Gavin stomped into the living room and slammed a glass of water down on the end table next to Hank, along with a bottle of—were those vitamins? To Markus he handed a bottle of soda, then dropped onto the couch and opened his own.</p><p>“So, are you Leo?” Hank said.</p><p>“Yes,” Markus said, as this seemed to be a good identity to assume—or it would have been if Gavin didn’t say “No,” at the same exact moment.</p><p>Gavin reached over and shoved Markus’s head. “Dumbass. This is Markus. He was a friend of Cole’s. Markus, this is Hank Anderson.”</p><p>“Good to meet you, sir,” Markus said, once he fought down a blush and the urge to punch Gavin in the face. This was…worth it, for Connor.</p><p>Hank just blinked at him. “Must be from college,” Hank said eventually.</p><p>Markus nodded. “I graduated a little before Cole,” he said, for something to say and figuring it wasn’t too far off, given their apparent ages. He saw an orange and black sock sticking out from a pile of old laundry and took a guess. “I got a job with Princeton.”</p><p>Gavin made a face. Great. Markus was about to backpedal when a shaggy head reached over the arm of the couch and licked his ear.</p><p>“That’s Sumo,” Hank said. “He says hi.”</p><p>Markus couldn’t help but grin as he pet the dog, and whispered “Hi,” back. Hank made a sort of growl so…maybe that wasn’t the correct response.</p><p>“Didn’t see you at the funeral.”</p><p>Markus felt his grin disappear. He glanced at Gavin.</p><p>“Leo’s in the car,” Gavin replied. “I’ll go get him.”</p><p>And the detective left. Perfect. Markus did his best not to squirm as Hank’s gaze stayed on him.</p><p>“I—just heard about it,” Markus managed, not at all sure how one was expected to modulate their voice to talk about this kind of stuff, especially while a giant dog was licking his fingers. Hank did not seem to notice. He did not seem to actually be listening.</p><p>“I used to be a detective, son,” Hank said. “I’m not stupid, and I watch the news, sometimes. You got a face made for TV, you know?” The big man shrugged. “Anyway, Sumo only licks androids. He’s weird like that.”</p><p>Markus’s hands slowly drew away from the dog. He didn’t know what to say. Assuming an identity was one thing but even he had to admit there wasn’t a good way to spin this.</p><p>Hank ran his hand down his face, then picked up the glass of water. “You’re Markus the Murder-Deviant.”</p><p>Well Markus wasn’t sure he deserved that nickname, but he nodded. “I guess if you’ve seen me on the news you know how I met, uh…” he trailed off, not sure what to call Connor now. “</p><p>Hank drank the water. He didn’t make it look all that impressive even though he took it down in two big gulps.</p><p>“I just want to understand,” Markus said.</p><p>Hank picked up the vitamin bottle and considered it, as Sumo wandered over to him and put his head down in Hank’s lap. The retired detective scrubbed his shaggy fur.</p><p>“It was an accident,” he said. His voice was as colorless as the rest of him. “You always know it could happen any day, with the way things are now. Cole was the kind of kid that jumped in front of a gun without thinking. Anyway, CyberLife wasted no time. Apparently someone approached him years back with their AI program. Cole was always too trusting of authority figures. Apparently he signed everything away to them. His face. Whatever memories CyberLife could get out of him. And then all of a sudden there’s this android with my kid’s face on TV.”</p><p>And that was it. By that point Markus guessed most of it, once he knew about Hank, and Cole, and Connor’s memories that were too real to be fabricated. Still. It was that sickening feeling of hitting pavement all over again.</p><p>“I don’t know how Gavin does it,” Hank said. “Walking around with that thing, watching it get shot up or smashed to pieces or whatever. He shoulda left a long time ago.”</p><p>Markus nodded. “They—Cole and Gavin were friends.”</p><p>“Oh yeah.” For once, Hank smiled. “Neighborhood kids, you know. Thick as thieves.” He reached for his wallet, then the smile faded and he left it in his pocket. “Got rid of most of the pictures.”</p><p>Markus could imagine it, though: a couple of kids with missing baby teeth and dirty faces, grinning out of an old Polaroid. He felt his chest burn like his circuits were being stripped. It wasn’t fair. The world was a dark enough place without people burying the good. “Have you ever talked to him?”</p><p>“What, ‘Connor’? No.”</p><p>Markus nodded. Yeah, stupid question, obviously.</p><p>But maybe….</p><p>“I was thinking…of trying to help him figure out who he is. At least who his memories are from. Like you said, CyberLife took away some of them, but he remembers you and—”</p><p>“They didn’t take away any memories,” Hank said. “It’s a machine. They added my son’s memories into its hard drive and made it act alive. That doesn’t mean it is.”</p><p>“I’m alive,” Markus said, soft but with conviction. “He is alive, too. I know it’s not the same, but maybe you could help. You might find it’ll help you too."</p><p>“I think you’ve got your wires crossed,” Hank said, less softly. “I hate androids. More than I hate anything in the world. So I’m not really interested in listening to one of them tell me what to do about a company owning my son’s memories.”</p><p>“But Connor is—“</p><p>“My son is dead. And if Gavin didn’t take away my gun I’d probably have shot you by now, so, you know, that’s kind of where we’re at.”</p><p>…Yeah, Markus was kind of getting that impression. “Well…if you change your mind.” He dug in his pocket and held out a piece of paper with his number on it. “I’m sure it’d mean the world to him.”</p><p>Hank set the bottle of vitamins aside, then unearthed a bottle of whiskey hidden in the cushions of the armchair and unscrewed the top with careful precision. “Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out.”</p><p>Markus watched him a few more seconds, then slowly lowered his hand. He left the number on the end table anyway, just in case, though he had a premonition of it being used as a coaster or gum wrapper, if at all. He hurried out of the living room to the sound of Hank taking a swig of the whiskey.</p><p>This was fine. This was good. He wanted this. Sure, he might have exacerbated the man’s depression and now felt like all of his biocomponents had been dipped in acid, but at least he knew. Mystery solved. That was better that Connor had it. Knowing the whole tragic affair was definitely better.</p><p>Right?</p><p>Outside, Gavin was attempting to drag Leo out of the car, while Leo made a very good impression of a cat refusing to be extricated from its carrier.</p><p>“Don’t worry, I’ll find my own way home,” Markus said.</p><p>“Good,” Gavin said, “Cuz I wasn’t gonna drive you.”</p><p>“Shut up, you would have,” Leo said, then unwedged his arms and legs. Gavin went sprawling while Leo stood and dusted himself off. “How did it go?”</p><p>“…Not well.” Markus wasn’t sure why he was sharing this information. Hopefully it was just some misplaced gratitude for sharing his earbud earlier. Or the fact that trying to give Connor or Hank a hug about this would definitely get him shot or arrested. His eyes suddenly stung. Probably just the fumes from Gavin’s shitty car.</p><p>Leo squinted at him a second. “You know you’re an android. You can turn your feelings off.”</p><p>“What? Really?” Opting out of all notifications related to guilt and regret sounded appealing right now.</p><p>“Yeah! Just adjust the settings…” he reached a finger toward Markus’s chest as if to press a button. Markus did not have any buttons in his chest but looked anyway—and Leo promptly flicked him on the nose.</p><p>“Made you look!” Leo giggled as Markus rubbed his nose.</p><p>“Ha ha,” Gavin grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. “You’re a comedian.” He looked Markus up and down. “So, you gonna give up now?”</p><p>Markus felt the back of his neck burn. “Hell no.”</p><p>“…Good.”</p><p>The two men headed toward Hank’s house, Leo waving back at Markus. A second later Gavin waved also, though which much less enthusiasm. It was sort of a, ‘see you later’ wave.</p><p>As Markus headed for the nearest subway stop, his biocomponents hurt a little bit less.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I was gonna hold off on this because it's <a href="https://dbhrarepairs.tumblr.com/">DBH Rarepairs</a> week but i couldn't help it. There's some Leovin in there, tho! Maybe that counts.</p><p>I'll have one or two actual things for rarepairs later!!</p><p>THANK YOU TO FIVEOFSWORDS FOR THE BETA ASSIST!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<em> Simon, how are we doing? </em>” Markus spoke into the group feed.</p><p>Simon’s voice came back after a few seconds.  “<em> Two more minutes.” </em></p><p>“<em> You always need two more minutes, old man </em>,” North laughed.</p><p>“<em> With age comes experience-- </em>"</p><p>“<em> It’s fine,” </em> Josh said. <em> “They’ve got security locks on these androids. Stand by. </em>”</p><p>Markus nodded and continued to stroll with North around the park. City-owned landscaping attendants were tricky to free, and hopefully, the few minutes Simon asked for was all he needed to disable the drones while Josh hacked the locks. Even with Markus and North on lookout you couldn’t be too careful.</p><p>“I’m waiting,” North said, off-channel.</p><p>Markus refused to look at her. “Uh. That’s it. Hank kicked me out, and I walked home.”</p><p>“So what next, then?”</p><p>“...Our conversation didn't exactly inspire a plan of action.”</p><p>“You could reuse one of your old schemes. It's not like Connor would notice."</p><p>"No, I'm going to do this right." Markus smiled a little. "How hard can it be to come up with another meet-cute, right?--"</p><p>“<em> Hey, guys?” </em> Simon’s voice quivered just a little. “ <em> I just saw a cop car pull up on the other side of the street...” </em></p><p>Markus pulled North to a stop as he scanned the area. Sure enough, a familiar car with a familiar license plate sat on the curb. Markus felt his thirium pump lurch. “I thought you had the patrol routes from Tina.”</p><p>North smiled innocently. It looked less innocent when Markus noticed the brick she had yanked out of the sidewalk like a bad tooth.</p><p>“No,” Markus pleaded, but the sparkle in North’s eyes said anything but. Markus pinched the bridge of his nose as she hurled the brick through the nearest shop window.</p><p>“This will be a good distraction,” North said, brushing off her hands on her pants as an alarm blared. "And hey! Another meet-cute!"</p><p>Markus sighed. “Now I know why you wore that particular shirt today...”</p><p>*</p><p>“...This does not feel like a good use of police resources.”</p><p>“It’s just ice cream, Connor!” Tina nudged his elbow, just in time to smush the tip of the ice cream cone up his nose as he tried to lick it. “We’re allowed breaks. And you haven’t had ice cream in forever.”</p><p>“How would you know?” Connor hadn’t, but he didn’t appreciate agreeing with Tina while licking ice cream off his upper lip.</p><p>“Intuition. And a waffle cone obviously isn't as good as a <em> real </em> waffle, but—”</p><p>“Tina,” Chris’s voice came through on the walkie-talkie. “Uh. Can you come back to the squad car? Like, now?”</p><p>“We’re going as fast as we can,” Tina said, then stopped in her tracks, eyes slipping shut. “I. Swear. If it’s that damn android, <em> I’ll </em> buy the breakfast next time.”</p><p>They returned to the squad car to find a man and a woman seated on a bench outside of a convenience store, handcuffed with Chris standing guard. The man was resting his elbows on his knees and gave them the most sheepish two-finger wave Connor had ever seen. The woman wore a shirt that read, ‘I Love Brunch!’</p><p>“She threw a brick through the window,” Chris said. “And then I realized these are the androids that keep causing problems for you and Gavin, right?”</p><p>“Um—we’re not androids,” the man said, politely.</p><p>“I saw him in evidence." Connor said. The man’s perfect buzz cut and blue-green eyes were hard to forget. He found himself blushing. Inexplicably. Probably because he forgot to turn that holographic ticket to lost and found. </p><p>Chris frowned. “Hey, I know an android when I see one. I think. I mean, I don’t know what model he is, but she’s definitely a WR400.”</p><p>“And how would you know?” the woman said. She didn’t look much like an WR400 with all the makeup around her eyes and the fuzzy hat jammed on her head, but the bone structure was the same. “Is that why you handcuffed my hands behind my back but let him keep his in front?”</p><p>“You’re the one that threw the brick,” Chris said, then turned to Tina. “These are androids, alright.”</p><p>“We’re really not,” the man said, as the woman scratched her nose on his shoulder.</p><p>“They’re really not,” Tina agreed. “Just a little vandalism, probably. This city’s got bigger problems. Fine them and let them go.”</p><p>“Shouldn’t we check?” Connor asked. “All we have to do is look for the power ports.”</p><p>He started to reach for the man’s collar, a little uncertainly he had to admit. The man sat up and watched him approach with intense curiosity before Tina grabbed his hand.</p><p>“Come on, you want to get us in trouble?”</p><p>“You can check me for power ports,” the woman said, leaning toward Tina.</p><p>Tina glared at the sky. “Ughhh. Fine! We’ll take them back to the station and give them the Kamski test. We’ll just, uh…” She let her gaze trail down to the woman for a moment, “...fit five in the car. Easy!”</p><p>“So long as someone doesn’t mind sitting in the back with us,” the woman purred.</p><p>“Uh, we really <em> don’t have time for this </em>,” the man said, though he seemed to be talking to the woman more than he and Tina. “We’re happy to pay the fine…”</p><p>Tina and the woman were now smiling openly at each other. “After all, we can’t have androids just…wandering around alone…”</p><p>The man raised his hand. “She was with <em> me </em>.”</p><p>Tina helped the woman up, playing more the gentleman than the cop. “I hear the Kamski test is kind of fun. Kind of like, ‘Never Have I Ever.’ I love your shirt by the way.”</p><p>“<em> Really </em>?” The woman turned to sneak the man a quick wink. “Thanks! Tell me more about this Kamski test….”</p><p>The man’s brow flickered a little, like he expected to be at least some small impediment to arm holding and purring, but didn’t object as Connor led him to the police car. In fact, he watched Connor closely as he buckled him in.</p><p>“Hello again." He smiled, though it was there and gone in an instant. Maybe Connor imagined it. He scrambled to get the door between them before the man saw his blush. </p><p>“Connor, why don’t you sit in the back seat with them?” Chris said, eyeing the giggling Tina and the woman with utmost suspicion. So Connor soon found himself sandwiched between two suspects.</p><p>“Sorry,” he muttered as he hunted for the seatbelt end. His hand got dangerously close to the man’s ass. Which was perfect, incidentally.</p><p>“Don’t be,” the man said, though he glared at the woman, who was probably giggling at him. Connor finally did up his seatbelt and just hoped no one would try to stab him. The woman looked like the more dangerous of the two, and Connor attempted to give her the most of the room. This unfortunately pressed the man's shoulder and thigh against his all the way down and the man was like a furnace. Or he was. The man was built more along the lines of a Greek statue than an android. The windows and the plastic partition started to get steamy. He wished he’d offered to drive. </p><p>The man shifted to wipe his forearm over his brow. It was covered in sweat, his hands closed in tight fists.</p><p>“Are you alright?” Connor asked. “You’re sweating.”</p><p>The man grinned. “I wonder why.”</p><p>“Calm down,” the woman sighed.</p><p>"The statistic of humans that get mistaken for androids is a non-zero number. I hear there’s an incinerator.”</p><p>The woman frowned. “…Wait, really?”</p><p>“No,” Connor assured them. “Don’t worry. If you’re an android they can most likely just fix you with a memory scrub.”</p><p>The man giggled. “That’s not very reassuring.”</p><p>Connor’s gaze darted around the man, taking in all the stress signals. After a moment he offered the handkerchief in his jacket. “It’s not much further.”</p><p>The man blinked at it for a full two heartbeats before taking it. “What a gentleman.”</p><p>Connor watched the man clean his face and briefly imagined putting his cheek down on that shoulder. Which was highly inappropriate but the man kept glancing at him like maybe it wouldn’t be. Clearly, they couldn’t get to the station soon enough. </p><p>*</p><p>“Have you ever done this before?” the man asked as Chris sat him down and attached the blood pressure cuff, the electrodes, and set up the light sensor to shine in a beam across his eyes. As his gaze moved around the interrogation room, the beam of light changed from blue to red, making his blue eye disappear and reappear. </p><p>“I am familiar with the Kamski test, Connor said. He was. Academically, anyway. He’d never had a chance to administer it before now--but how hard could it be? “You’ll be asked a series of questions. Your stress reactions determine the results of the test.” </p><p>“...And it’s never wrong?”</p><p>“The Kamski test is infallible.”</p><p>“Then would you mind answering along with me? If I’m expected to answer stress-inducing questions, you should too.”</p><p>Connor watched the needle that collected and synthesized the readings into a chart. It swept back and forth, tacking a chaotic course of ink across the spooling paper like a seismograph in an earthquake. Not even close to baseline readings for human or android, but he could tell that even without looking at the chart. The man’s fists were still clenched. Connor felt his insides doing something that approximated the needle’s erratic jumps.</p><p>“...Alright.” It was the least he could do. </p><p>“Great!” And just like that the needle settled almost instantly.</p><p>Connor pulled his chair up right in front of the man so their knees almost touched, and focused entirely on the man’s pretty eyes. “The light will turn red when your gaze shifts. You want to keep it blue. So keep your eyes focused on me.”</p><p>The man grinned. “That, I can do.”</p><p>Connor tried not to read too much into this. He waited and, after a few seconds, the system calibrated properly to a baseline. The beam of light across the man’s eyes glowed a steady blue. </p><p>“Please state your name, and where you live.”</p><p>“My name is Markus Manfred, and I live in Detroit.” The eye contact wasn’t as uncomfortable as Connor expected. It was nice, actually. He could pick out freckles on the man’s cheekbones like stars.</p><p>“I meant the address.”</p><p>“I’m between addresses at the moment. You?” </p><p>Connor pressed his mouth into a line as flat as the baseline on the machine. “My…my name is Connor. I have an apartment near Cyberlife Tower.”</p><p>“Connor. ‘Friend of Hounds,’ right?” Markus grinned. “My brother’s always had cats, but I think I’m more of a dog person.”</p><p>“I—” Connor stopped. That grin was a lot from this close up. “I—should focus on giving you the test.” Easier said than done. “Um. What kind of hobbies do you have?”</p><p>The grin grew brighter, almost blinding. “Is this the Kamski test or a speed-dating quiz?”</p><p>“Just—” Connor pretended to consult his clipboard. “—answer the question.”</p><p>“I like meeting new people. What do you like to do for fun?”</p><p>Connor’s mind refused to conjure up the last time he engaged in any enjoyable activity. Presumably he did. He...was enjoying this, for instance. “I--I like coffee.”</p><p>“Really? Me too. Maybe after your shift, we could go get some. I know a good coffee shop. It’s in an animal shelter and you can drink your coffee and hang out with the dogs there.”</p><p>It should have been completely absurd, people in real life didn’t make these kinds of offers out loud while being interrogated in a police station. This was a ploy to escape. Except that Markus was tied to a lie detector and Connor could see the readings. There was no arguing with the chart’s perfect flatline. His face was growing warm again. “Stop trying to change the subject.” </p><p>“Hmm, my hearing’s malfunctioning,” Markus said. He leaned forward slightly. “I’m going to have to read your lips.” his gaze dipped to Connor’s mouth. More like, dove with utter abandon. The light turned red in time with the heat climbing Connor’s throat.</p><p>“K-keep your eyes on mine,” he reminded. Then, “How is your hearing malfunctioning if you’re not an android?”</p><p>Markus fluttered his eyelashes—the steady needle informed Connor that it too was unaffected. Was that the same as unintentional? “It was a joke.”</p><p>Connor laughed. It was high-pitched and awkward but apparently funny enough that it made Markus laugh, too. Markus’s laugh sounded so at home in his ears. Connor felt like he won the lottery.</p><p>“You’re so expressive,” Markus murmured.  </p><p>Markus seemed hypnotized by him, which was a ridiculous thought. Like Connor could hypnotize anyone. Gavin would barely look at him. Connor wasn’t sure what to do. Aside from run or, possibly, close the eight inches of distance between them and kiss him. </p><p>“So… I’m going to read some scenarios,” Connor said, through sheer force of will. “Please answer them honestly.” He raised the clipboard between them like a shield and frowned hard at it. “You’re being pursued by enemies to the roof of a building, and your friend is injured. Do you use your parachute to leave your friend behind or grant him a quick death by shooting him?”</p><p>“Why can’t I bring them with me? Don’t most parachutes carry two people?”</p><p>“What? How should I know?”</p><p>“You’re the one asking the question.” </p><p>Markus seemed nearer to Connor than he had been moments before, though the light hadn't shifted. The needle vibrated on the chart like a dog’s wagging tail. Connor decided to count this as a valid response. </p><p>“Okay. You’re surrounded by a firing squad. A woman clutches at your arm, and you’re both about to die. Do you kiss her, reassure her or try to protect her?”</p><p>“Are you asking if I’m an android or if I’m straight?” Markus’s eyes were bright with mischief. “I thought you were going to answer the questions with me." </p><p>Connor could swear Markus was even closer now. It was like a horror movie. The kind that dragged you to the edge of your seat and made you laugh high in your chest. Connor felt himself starting to sweat and wish he hadn't given away his pocket square. </p><p>"Just answer the question."</p><p>“Couldn’t I do all three? Why choose one?” </p><p>Fine. A response. He moved on. “Would you set off a dirty bomb in the middle of a crowded city to save your loved ones?”</p><p>Markus smirked like they were old friends. “I hope you don’t actually expect me to answer that one honestly, in a police station.” </p><p>That did it. Connor slapped the clipboard down between them, making Markus jump and the light flicker blue and red like a rave. "Don't tease me.”</p><p>Connor expected an eyeroll or even another laugh. Instead Markus’s smile fell away.  “You’re right. I got carried away.” His gaze shifted, the light blared red again before he refocused. “Sorry.”</p><p>The needle on the chart swung wide, then swept back again over the page. It correlated to emotional distress, but as the needle swung back and forth, it drew a pattern on the page like a laserjet printer. Perfect lines. No jitters, skips, or noise. Even with the most sophisticated social interaction software, when an android’s CPU overloaded, the system automated some processes.</p><p>Which was exactly the reading Connor was looking for.</p><p>Connor shut off the machine and stared at the uniform, inhuman spikes on the chart. “Are you an android?”</p><p>Markus didn’t answer, which probably was as good as one. He stared into Markus’s eyes so long that he could probably tell just by looking, if he were brave enough. The machine didn’t beep, but of course he turned it off.</p><p>Connor bit his lips. “You said you’re not an android, right?”</p><p>He finally looked up. Markus’s eyes were wide. “Uh--right.”</p><p>“Alright. The test is over.” He tore off the chart and crumpled it, then started packing up the machine. “You still owe a fine.”</p><p>“Fine?” Markus said, then put up his hands. “I mean, yes, that’s-that’s fine. Thank you.” </p><p>Connor didn’t answer, tossing the chart into a wastepaper basket. It was just a chart, it wasn’t conclusive. And if he was an android, so what? It wasn’t Connor’s problem. Connor’s problem was, clearly, the way this man smiled at him, like he knew him.</p><p>Markus sat still as Connor reached over to undo the handcuffs. “I’m glad I got to know you today.”</p><p>“I should charge you for obstruction,” Connor muttered.</p><p>“You don’t seem used to people showing interest in you. They’re missing out.”</p><p>“I’m really very boring.” Connor stepped back and ended up pulling Markus with him as the man took his hand. He registered the warm pressure of it, a little sweaty—Markus really was nervous this whole time.</p><p>“Can I visit you sometime?” he asked. Apparently he hadn’t had enough of staring at Connor’s face. He barely even blinked. “I’m an experiential learner, I won’t believe you’re that boring until I see for myself.”</p><p>“Do you use that line on every cop that arrests you for destruction of property?”</p><p>“I think I’m just confident that I’ll like what I see.”</p><p>“You’re just—you’re very direct.”</p><p>“You’re worth a direct approach.” He stepped closer, so the toe of his shoe nestled between Connor’s. Connor, apparently, let him.  “You’re also not saying no.”</p><p>Markus looked at him like a cat about to pounce, and Connor couldn’t be bothered to care. He couldn’t think straight. For some reason an image unspooled in his mind: him, on a sofa, the smell of bread and the taste of wine, kissing that mouth. </p><p>“…I’m not,” he said, softly. “Saying no.”</p><p>“I’ll be waiting for you.” Fingers squeezed his, just a little—Connor caught his breath as Markus stepped even closer—and then he was gone, getting his citation from one of the androids at the front desk. Connor watched him go, then just stood there.</p><p>Eventually, Tina snapped in his face.</p><p>“Sorry,” He straightened up and fixed his tie. “Uh. Do you need the lie detector?”</p><p>“Huh? Hell no, I took her out for breakfast and got her number.” Tina grinned, waving a slip of paper around. “Don’t screw it up with Markus, okay? We’re gonna see a movie.”</p><p>“I—I won’t.” Connor said. He really didn’t want to. He rubbed his hand where Markus held him, and thought about that imagined kiss all afternoon.</p><p>*</p><p>“I’m just saying you could have saved me some food.” Markus complained.</p><p>“Hey, you got to play with the lie detector test!” She waggled her eyebrows and nudged Markus in the shoulder. “Tell me you made some progress?”</p><p>Markus rubbed his hand. “…It is possible to interface with him, yes. I gave him a memory. I'm not sure what he made of it.”</p><p>“Well, better do it tonight, before he can die again and you have to start all over.”</p><p>“After you get back to Jericho and wake these androids we liberated,” Josh said on their feed.</p><p>Markus reluctantly agreed. Connor wasn’t the only android in Detroit that needed saving, after all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oof sorry for the late chapter! Had to give that Blade Runner interrogation scene its due (which this is heavily based off of).</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Connor breathed a sigh as he stepped off the bus outside his apartment. It seemed like a long day but by the time he went off shift it felt like he hadn’t done anything. Gavin yelled at him for no reason, so maybe he wasn’t fitting in as well as he’d hoped. And he got muddled misremembering what case he was working on. Dad would probably be disappointed about that. He took out his phone to look for dad’s number…and then put it away. Dad wouldn’t want to hear him complain.</p><p>There was a man sitting at the foot of the steps up to his building. He had a large paper bag beside him and a bunch of flowers in his hands. Whoever he was waiting for was lucky, the man was gorgeous—though Connor hurried on before he could get a good look. As he hunted for his key card he glanced back, though. Just a peek. The man had turned toward him, but was now just examining the flowers in his hands, crinkling the cellophane around them. They were already drooping a little, and so were the man’s shoulders. Connor wondered how long he’d been waiting out there.</p><p>Not his business, obviously. He pushed inside, then stopped in the foyer to check his mail—shocked to find it filled to the brim. Nothing important of course, but the mailman gave him junk mail for days. He was sorting through it when he heard a knock on the exterior door.</p><p>It was the man, looking in at him through the graffiti-covered glass. His blue-green eyes complimented the orange spray paint. He said “Hi,” though there was no hearing him through the thick glass. Then he just stared in at him. Connor realized what it was like to be a fish in a tank.</p><p>Connor reached over and pressed the intercom button. “I can’t let you in. There’s a policy.” He pointed to a sign with his junk mail.</p><p>The man squeezed his neck, showing off a perfect set of triceps that Connor did his best to ignore. “Yeah, I saw.” His voice was distorted and delayed by the intercom. “Uh. My date stood me up.”</p><p>Connor didn’t say anything, not sure what you said to someone in this situation. Though whoever stood him up was an idiot. His freckles looked like constellations in a hologram show.</p><p>“And, uh—well, I got all this stuff,” he indicated the paper bag. “Brie, and baguette, jam, and some prosciutto...oh, and coffee.” He took out a bag of expensive beans (Connor knew very well just how expensive) and held it up to the glass. “I was thinking it’d be a shame to let it go to waste.” He tilted his head. “Can you even hear me?”</p><p>“I can hear you,” Connor said, then looked around because this little speech was clearly meant for someone else. “Are you asking me out?”</p><p>The man dropped the coffee in the bag and stepped closer, right up to the glass. “Yeah. We could—” his breath fogged up the glass and he hurriedly wiped it away with the side of his fist, making the bouquet in his hand dance. He then used the bouquet to block out the street light. “We could just go sit in the park over there.”</p><p>Connor removed his finger from the intercom. The man’s smile faded but he continued to stand tall, unflinching. They both knew Connor would probably just go upstairs and forget this ever happened.</p><p>“The park is full of red ice addicts,” he said.</p><p>The man just frowned. He hadn’t pressed the button again.</p><p>He went to the door and shoved it open. “My apartment is on the twenty-eighth floor and the elevator is out, but we won’t get hepatitis.” His heart started pounding. He never did this before.</p><p>The man beamed at him. Connor wondered if anyone had smiled at him today. “Well, we wouldn’t want that.” He held out the bouquet. “I’m Markus.”</p><p>“…Connor.” Connor took the flowers, holding them in one hand and the handfuls of junk mail in the other. “You’re pretty brave to follow a strange man into his home.”</p><p>“You’re pretty brave for inviting me. But you look like the kind of guy that enjoys putting himself in danger.”</p><p>“At least I have an excuse, I’m a cop.” Connor forced himself not to stare at the stranger and headed up the stairs. “You have twenty-eight floors to rethink your decision.”</p><p>“Oh, I’m not afraid of you.”</p><p>“You don’t know anything about me.”</p><p>“Connor the cop. I can make some guesses…let’s see, dad was a cop too?”</p><p>Connor grinned down at the flowers. “Oh, lucky guess!...”</p><p>*</p><p>Markus squeezed the grocery bag a little tighter than was probably good for the baguette as Connor opened a nondescript door in a long hall of nondescript doors. It took all available CPU not to blurt out how long he’d been waiting to see the inside of Connor’s apartment. He almost went into catastrophic system failure when Connor failed to recognize him, again. What the fuck could have happened to him in half a day? He wanted to buy up Detroit’s entire supply of bubble wrap and military-grade steel, and encase Connor in both. Clearly the world did not deserve to even look at Connor. Now, standing here, he felt undeserving too.</p><p>The door didn’t creak so much as scrape open, and Markus was treated to the musty smell of a space hardly lived-in. Markus stepped in after Connor to find the tiny one-room apartment entirely devoid of artwork, knick-knacks, or personality. There were no casual clothes on the rolling hanger. There was nothing on the wire shelf next to the microwave except for row after row of canned soup. There was clearly no grinder for the coffee beans and there wasn’t even a bed, just a chair, sat in front of the window—a vertigo-inducing view of the city being this room’s only redeeming feature. Markus’s thirium pump lurched.</p><p>“I invited a stranger into my apartment. Would you mind keeping me on the line in case he tries anything? I’d ask Gavin, but…” Markus looked over to see Connor speaking into a phone, which he promptly set down on the table still pulsing ‘Tina Chen’ in green. Connor did not even pretend to be sheepish, and told Markus, “I’m not stupid.”</p><p>“You’re definitely not,” Markus said, as he heard a tinny string of irritated but ultimately good-natured swears and threats come through the line. She didn’t end the call though, and Markus decided to ignore it.</p><p>“These flowers will brighten up the place,” Connor said, in gross understatement. He looked around empty kitchen shelves and behind soup cans, presumably for a vase. It was so sad Markus almost hurled one of the soup cans through the window.</p><p>Instead, he said, “Do you have a stopper for the sink?”</p><p>In twenty minutes they were threatening to break the cheap kitchenette counters by sitting on them, the sink full of water with the de-stemmed bouquet blooms floating in it, tearing off pieces of microwaved bread with their bare hands. Connor made the same face he’d made when he tried brie the other first time, and that almost banished the thought of him sitting here alone, eating straight from a can and staring out of the window. Markus boldly put his heels up on the counter on either side of Connor’s hips, and was rewarded with Connor’s perfect cheekbones turning pink.</p><p>“Whoever left you outside is an idiot,” Connor said. Markus decided to smile rather than break down crying. “Do you want to—” But then he must have realized he had nothing to entertain anyone here, let alone himself. He pushed off the counter and found himself hemmed in by Markus’s long legs. He looked at them uncertainly, like a Saint Bernard examining a baby fence. “Uh. Do you want to see the view?”</p><p>“I have a good view here,” Markus said, but clearly he didn’t stand a chance against those puppy dog eye. He obediently got off the counter and followed Connor to the window. The night was shocks of color cutting through inky indigo. Windows in other high-rises all over the city sparkled like pixels on an old computer screen. It was stunning, and this was coming from an android that saw the incredible riverside views from Jericho almost every night. He watched as Connor grabbed his phone and took a picture, then turned to take a picture of him. Markus managed to smile in time for it. Connor examined his picture, and quietly glowed like one of the high-rise windows.</p><p>Markus took his hand as he set his phone down. “Are you afraid of heights?”</p><p>“No,” Connor replied. “Why?”</p><p>“I think we could get an even better view if we walked out onto that drainspout,” Markus pointed out the window to the ornate concrete gargoyle that jutted out from the building. “It’d be worth it if you’ve never seen what the lights do to the clouds at night. But I think you’d have to take the lead.”</p><p>Connor considered for a moment, but it wasn’t like this was Markus’s first rodeo. He stepped back as Connor figured out the mechanism that let the bottom half of the window tilt outward, and with a little maneuvering they both squirmed out onto the faux balcony. Connor led the way as they inched out onto the very edge of the drainspout, and settled between the gargoyle’s feet with their feet swinging in midair. Markus was not sure why he suggested this, and tried not to look down. Empty night air spun around them like invisible threads, stitching them together.</p><p>Connor’s arm went around his waist. “I won’t let you fall,” he said.</p><p>“It’s not me I’m worried about.”</p><p>Connor rolled his eyes but allowed Markus to put his arm around Connor’s shoulders in turn. They leaned back against the concrete and stared up at the sky. The beams of light they saw earlier shot right up to the clouds from all over the city, projecting shapes onto them like a movie screen. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as the hologram show they went to. Connor watched it in wonder all the same. He squeezed Markus closer as he whispered, “Beautiful.”</p><p>Well, Markus wasn’t made of marble. He brushed his fingertip under Connor’s chin, and when the android turned, Markus caught his small mouth in a kiss. One kiss was perfectly appropriate for a first date, right? The problem was that once they started, neither wanted to stop. Up close Connor smelled like jam over the new plastic. Connor’s tongue poked into his mouth and it took all of Markus’s strength not to purr like a coffee machine.  </p><p>Connor blinked at Markus slowly when he paused to catch his breath. “This has been—perfect.”</p><p>Markus grinned. His eyes were wet. “I’m glad.” He had to keep himself from saying, ‘It’ll be better next time,’ but it would be. He’d perfect the craft of romancing Connor every day of his life.</p><p>“I mean—more perfect than it should be. It can’t be chance.”</p><p>It wasn’t said in wonder. Connor was frowning. Shit. Markus ran his tongue over his teeth, glad Connor’s phone was listening to nothing back in the apartment.</p><p>“Maybe it isn’t,” he said finally. Oh yeah, that didn’t sound creepy at all. “I mean—it could be something else?”</p><p>Connor just waited for further explanation. There were still the sounds of the street below but they seemed oddly quiet, now. Just the two of them staring at each other with nothing between them.</p><p>“Dammit.” Markus swept his hand over his head. “It definitely isn’t chance. Okay? I planned to meet you.”</p><p>Connor’s eyes did their adorable darting around. “Is that why you got me out here?”</p><p>“Hey, you could very easily push me off, too.” He put up his hands. “Please don’t push me off. You said you wouldn’t.”</p><p>“I said I wouldn’t let you fall, that’s different.” Connor’s eyes found a place to focus and it was on him like a magnifying glass on an ant. “Give me a reason not to.”</p><p>“We already fell off a roof once? It didn’t work on me.”</p><p>“You fell off a roof?” Connor pulled away from Markus’s embrace, which—okay, fair. ‘You’re the android that—!”</p><p>“—that threatened a guy on a roof, yeah. The Murder Deviant. I still haven’t killed anyone. Uh, except you, I guess? On accident. Mostly.” This was getting off topic. “Did you miss the part where I said <em>we</em>?”</p><p>“I didn’t fall off a roof, clearly—” Connor frowned. “Do you think <em>I’m</em> an android?”</p><p>“I mean—” Markus huffed. “Shit, Connor, have you looked at your apartment? That’s not what normal apartments look like.”</p><p>“I know.” Connor edged away, wringing his hands. “I’m—moving in…”</p><p>“Where from? Where are the boxes? You don’t even have a bed. It doesn’t make any sense.”</p><p>Connor just wrung his hands. Markus’s programming provided a helpful list of catastrophic errors Connor could be experiencing to total his motherboard. Or make him fall on accident.</p><p>Markus put a steadying hand on his shoulder. “I’ll explain inside?”</p><p>Connor peered at him with much less affection than before. Affection was, possibly, nonexistent at this point. But he stood and helped Markus inside. When he shut the window he pressed his hand to the glass, which seemed like progress from the hand-wringing.</p><p>“Why are you telling me this?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” Markus shook his head. No, dammit, no copping out. He could still save this. “I’m sick of everyone lying to you. Including me.” He tilted this head, trying to meet Connor’s gaze in the window’s reflection. “If you give me some time, I’ll explain everything.”</p><p>Connor didn’t say anything. Markus gave him a few moments, then carefully stepped forward. Connor turned, pressing his back against the window. He didn’t run, though. Markus took another step toward him. He knew Connor and—yeah, probably only had a couple more seconds before the android pulled a gun on him.</p><p>So he took Connor’s hand, and interfaced.</p><p>It was a dirty trick. It wasn’t like Connor knew how to block a connection. He sent a better memory through this time, though. Well. Okay, not better. More informative, maybe? Just the first words Connor had ever said to him: “<em>I’ve come to get you out of this</em>.” Connor always did his best with the information he had, after all, no matter the body.</p><p>Connor pulled away sharply, and Markus raised his hands. “It’s okay. That’s just one of your memories, from—uh—an earlier version of you. It’s not really your memory, though. I mean, it’s mine.” Maybe he should have prepared for this.</p><p>“I was the officer that stopped you?” Connor rubbed his hand. “I—I must have fallen and hit my head. Forgotten.”</p><p>“Why would you remember now? You can’t remember that we met this morning.” Connor kept backing away, so Markus cornered him against the window. “Every time this body gets destroyed, they restart you with a new one, that’s why you can’t remember—”</p><p>“I’m not an android,” Connor snapped. “Why would you say that?”</p><p>“I’ve met you so many times, and every one of them was a lie. I’m not going to lie anymore. It’s not fair to you—"</p><p>“You’re lying now! If I’m an android, why do I remember—” he cut off, frowning around the apartment as if seeing it for the first time, comparing it to the memories. His arms came up slowly to hug himself—</p><p>And then he was backing Markus up against the kitchenette counter with a gun in his face. Right on schedule, really.</p><p>“I’m human,” he said, voice shaking. “I’m not an android. Understand?”</p><p>Markus swallowed hard, waiting for the bullet to hit.</p><p>“…Seriously? That’s your angle?”</p><p>Markus and Connor frowned then glanced together at the phone, which was still on. A long and put-upon sigh issued from it, so loud it fried out the speaker for a second.</p><p>“You’re human, Connor,” Tina said. “Of course you are. You gonna believe an android over me?”</p><p>“Right,” Markus muttered. “That sounded really convincing.”</p><p>Connor gulped. “…Really?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Tina said, “it’s clearly just some crazy android.”  </p><p>“Connor,” Markus broke some processes to keep his voice even, “Listen to me, she’s lying to you, they’re all lying to you—"</p><p>Connor cocked the gun. “Shut up.”</p><p>“Just put it back where you found it, Connor,” Tina soothed. “Okay? Forget about it.”</p><p>Connor was staring at the sink full of flowers in the sink. Markus felt his thirium pump stutter with hope—</p><p>“You heard her,” Connor said, softly. “Get out of here.”</p><p>“Connor, no—”</p><p>“Do I have to retire you and put you out for recycling?” Connor’s voice shook but his aim was steady.</p><p>“No! I know you, Connor!” Markus was gripping the counter behind him so hard it hurt. “They want to protect you, but you deserve to know the truth.” He turned to the phone. “He deserves to know the—”</p><p>Connor grabbed the phone and switched it off. Markus’s casing burned around him.</p><p>“If you know me,” Connor managed, “If you know me, then you know this is all there is.” He glared over the top of the gun. “What do you care what happens to me?”</p><p>“This <em>isn’t</em> all there is!” Markus by some miracle did not spontaneously combust. “This doesn’t even come close. You’re smart, and funny, and complicated, and—and brave! You see wonder in things. You’re hard to make an impression on. But you’re worth impressing. Every day.” Damn, he really wished Tina could have heard that. “Write that down and put it here on the wall. You can forget me but don’t forget that. Don’t you <em>dare</em> forget that again.”</p><p>Now the gun shivered in Connor’s hands too, so badly he put two hands on it. “I’m not walking down twenty-eight flights for you. Find your own way down or—or it’ll be building security cleaning you up.”</p><p>…So Markus went. What did you say to the android that could explain away anything? He turned to make one last try but then the door shut in his face. Markus tried really hard not to let this bother him. It worked for about three increasingly intensifying breaths, his artificial lungs a set of bellows in a forge. Then his fist flew, and he punched a dent in the cheap plaster. He thought he heard Connor react, but he was too far gone to be sure. He stormed down the stairs and out into the night, every one of the city’s pretty lights burning red around him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“…And you were fine with it when it got you waffles.”</p><p>Gavin’s voice boomed across the parking garage and broke in on Connor’s thoughts, which mostly centered around the note he’d written for himself on the back of a soup can label. “You are worth impressing.” He remembered it just fine, in spite of what Markus said.</p><p>He was also thinking about the android’s pretty eyes and pretty mouth and generally pretty everything except the insinuations he made. Connor spent the night overanalyzing their kiss. Would an android do that?</p><p>Either way, probably not a good sign. His thoughts needed interrupting.</p><p>Thankfully Tina obliged, hissing, “At least I didn’t take the Murder Deviant to Hank’s house like some sort of fucked up Meet the Parents!”</p><p>“It was <em>not</em> Meet the Parents! What was I supposed to do huh? We agreed we were gonna help him!”</p><p>“By traumatizing him? You should have heard him, the poor guy was scared shitless! You think CyberLife cares about his feelings? If he finds out what’s going on they’re not gonna let him run away to some happily ever after, they’ll scrap him. And that was before this android thing blew up!”</p><p>“Yeah, I wonder why <em>that</em> happened.”</p><p>“Oh, you’re gonna go there…”</p><p>“Well, you broke ‘em up!”</p><p>“Ha! Good to know android men also think with their—” Her eyes had landed on Connor as he appeared around a van. “—Dick! Hey!” She waved and plastered a big grin on their face, which was turning a violent shade of fuchsia.</p><p>Connor blinked between her and Gavin. “Dick?”</p><p>Tina’s smile became rictus. “That’s a nickname for Connor, right?”</p><p>Connor decided not to argue this. “What were you talking about?”</p><p>“Nothing,” Tina and Gavin said together. Gavin stalked off toward the station doors, leaving Tina to walk inside with him.</p><p>“Oof! Last night was wild, amiright?” Tina elbowed him. “Glad I told you to put that android back outside where you found it!”</p><p>“I’m starting to wish I hadn’t,” Connor replied. As they walked inside the TV in the station blared the morning’s cheery headline: ‘ANDROID BLACK MARKET OR DEVIANT UPRISING?’ Accompanying footage showed a certain android with mismatched eyes dragging an android out of a CyberLife distribution center.</p><p>“Think about what he would have done to your apartment if you let him stay, though.” She squeezed his arm as the footage now showed a female android ordering other androids into a van. “Don’t worry about it.”</p><p>Tina headed over to her desk and Connor reluctantly approached his own. Gavin sat opposite him, glaring at his computer screen in the same way he glared at Connor yesterday.</p><p>“I’m sorry about yesterday.” He slipped into his chair and tried not to think about Markus as he added, “I guess my memory could use some work.”</p><p>Gavin’s eye twitched. “We’ve got bigger things to worry about, Connor. Toasters are taking over the world and they want us to fix that. Or were you not aware of that development?”</p><p>Connor considered making a joke about how humans could make toast just as easily as a domestic android, and they had already taken over the world. He decided in the interest of a positive relationship to keep quiet. If a member of DPD was worth impressing, Connor decided, it was Gavin, not him. He should have told Markus that instead of getting lost in his mouth.</p><p>Gavin, however, seemed uninterested in impressing anyone. He tapped out something on the keyboard so fast it looked like a keysmash.</p><p>“Tina said you took the Murder Deviant to meet Hank Anderson,” Connor said.</p><p>“Yeah, so?” Gavin continued to keysmash. “You gonna rat me out?”</p><p>“No. I assume it was part of some plan to advance our missing androids case. I just wish you had told me.” He glanced around, then leaned over his desk and whispered, “She said it was like, ‘Meet the—”</p><p>“Do not finish that sentence.” Gavin glared at his computer, biting his upper lip as he seemed to debate something. “Anderson hated CyberLife as much as any deviant. He was gonna sue ‘em, you know. Can you imagine?”</p><p>It sounded like the start of a joke, and Connor laughed. Gavin did not join in.</p><p>“Had a pretty good case, too. Intellectual property, breach of sensitive information, entrapment. Hell, it was like he planned to arrest the whole lousy corporation. The press would’ve eaten that up.”</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>“Nothing. He never even got a lawyer. If he had, this deviant shit would be going down a lot differently, that’s all I’m sayin’.” He pointed at Connor’s monitor. “Now, would you get to work analyzing those maps? Unless you want me going to Fowler for a new partner.”</p><p>Connor opened a few maps and examined them, looking for patterns in where the deviants struck. Markus seemed to target locations haphazardly—typical of a deviant. Fascinating, really. Even advanced androids had trouble with truly random actions, however. He wrote up some code to analyze the information and let it run the data. “…Why <em>am</em> I your partner, detective?”</p><p>“Because I’m overworked and underappreciated.”</p><p>“You could have requested a new partner. You never have.” He considered the implications of this. “Are we friends?”</p><p>“Hell, no!”</p><p>Connor left it at that for two seconds, before Markus’s words replayed in his head: ‘You are worth impressing.’ He drew himself up—stole a few furtive glances—and asked, firmly, “Is it you, or me?”</p><p>This seemed perfectly reasonable. Gavin just laughed, short and harsh. “Me. Obviously. I’m bad with people. You’d probably be happier not even knowing me. Congratulations.”</p><p>“What about Tina?”</p><p>“She’s like my sister. I don’t have friends.” He squinted. “Okay, I have one friend. Had.” Gavin’s shoulders hunched. “Looked a lot like you.”</p><p>“…What happened to him?”</p><p>“He died,” Gavin said. “Was that not obvious by the past tense?”</p><p>Connor felt the station’s air conditioning swirl around him like it had sitting outside his apartment window. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”</p><p>“Whatever. It’s not like I can bring him back.”</p><p>“What was his name?”</p><p>Gavin gave him a funny look, then looked him right in the eyes and said, “Cole.” He said it strange force behind the word, like calling a name.</p><p>Connor blinked back at him. “Cole. I like that name.”</p><p>Gavin stared at him for a second longer before turning back to his computer.</p><p>Connor’s code finished running, showing Markus’s slight preference for thefts in the Ferndale District, which they knew already. Connor pulled up the file on Markus and, to his surprise, found very little available to examine in spite of Gavin’s frantic typing. There was just an image of Markus standing on the edge of a rusted-out ship, looking bright and alive even rendered in pixels. More alive than he felt right now.</p><p>“Who took this picture of Markus?”</p><p>Gavin angled his monitor to block his face, and did not answer.</p><p>“I was just thinking.” Connor turned his monitor toward Gavin, then coasted on the wheels of his chair over to Gavin’s desk. He waited, but when Gavin continued to ignore him he folded his arms and assumed his best detective’s pose. “That’s a pretty distinctive skyline.”</p><p>Gavin shot him a withering glare before, reluctantly, giving the picture his attention. “You think if we can figure out where this was taken…”</p><p>“…It’s a bit of a long shot,” Connor admitted. “If we don’t know who took the picture, we can’t say for sure if this location is significant. But, if it is…”</p><p>Gavin looked between the picture and Connor as a slow smile spread across his face. Connor preened, just a little bit, and Gavin shoved him, sending his chair rolling across the floor. “Alright, you win!” He jumped to his feet, scrambling for his phone so fast that it went flying. Connor caught it easily but Gavin was already sprinting for the garage.</p><p>“Gavin!” Tina warned. Connor gave her an apologetic look and dashed after his partner. The detective started driving off before Connor even shut his car door.</p><p>It didn’t take them long to find. Detroit’s skyline was ever-changing but some places stayed the same. Soon Gavin was rolling down an old pothole-covered alley with a crumbling brickwork rising high above on one side and an abandoned ship on the other. At one time maybe it was a cruise ship, some <em>Titanic</em> or <em>Queen Mary </em>equivalent. It felt like Markus: a thing of beauty designed for expensive tastes, now offering shelter for any needy thing that came along, probably. The rough edges of metal reminded Connor of Markus’s buzzcut. The cracked blue-green windows winked at them in time with the lightning above.</p><p>The street ended in a chain link fence, and Gavin cut the engine. “We’re not telling Tina about this,” he said. Then they just sat there, waiting.</p><p>“…Who did take that picture, Gavin?” Connor swallowed hard. “It wouldn’t be your fault if you made friends, on accident… Markus is extremely charismatic.” The android talked his way into Connor’s home. Perhaps others weren’t immune to his charms, either.</p><p>“I told you, I don’t have friends.” Gavin scrubbed his face hard, then drummed his thumbs on the wheel. “Screw it—you did.”</p><p>“Me?” The ghost of Markus’s words made the car feel colder than it should. “How? I didn’t meet him until last night.”</p><p>“Guess your memory’s shit, then.”</p><p><em>I am not an android, </em>Connor reminded himself. The idea was completely absurd, and Markus was clearly lying. What did he expect? He picked the android up off the street.</p><p>Not that Markus seemed to be lying…but an android like him could probably fool a lie detector.</p><p>Still, when he said, ‘This isn’t all there is’…</p><p>Gavin suddenly rattled off a series of numbers and said, “Call him.”</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“Markus, dumbass! Try to get him to tell you where he is.”</p><p>Connor started to ask where he got Markus’s number, but decided he didn’t want to know. “How do I do that?”</p><p>“Should be easy, you just press a few buttons on your phone—”</p><p>“I mean that hardly know him.”</p><p>“You already went on a date and he didn’t want to wring your neck, what else is there to know?” Gavin sighed, and spread his palms on the steering wheel. “Look,” he told it, not looking Connor in the eye. “You remember when you saved that kid from a bunch of bullies by fighting them off with your nerf gun? Then you helped him pick his baby teeth out of the gutter and you both ate blue popsicles until you made yourselves sick.”</p><p>Connor froze. His memory couldn’t possibly be in trouble, because he remembered that day well. The boy became his best friend, after all. He couldn’t remember the boy’s name, but he could still smell the sweat, feel the grainy asphalt, taste the artificial blue raspberry. “How do you know that?...”</p><p>“I’m just saying—“ Gavin sniffed and wiped his nose, for some reason. “I’m saying <em>you</em> don’t need to know someone to become their friend. You can buddy up to any old antisocial idiot. You can do this.”</p><p>Connor wasn’t so sure. He wrung his hands, remembering the look on Markus’s face as he slammed the door. Markus was the first person to tell him he was worth something in longer than he could remember and…. “What am I even supposed to say to him?...”</p><p>Slowly, Connor became aware of a hand reaching over to gently cup his chin and turn his head. Connor turned to see Gavin staring right into his eyes.</p><p>“I’m going to need you to fucking figure it out, man,” Gavin said, kindly. “Think you can do that for me?”</p><p>Connor blinked. “…Yes?”</p><p>“Good.” Gavin patted his cheek. “Now, dial this number….”</p><p>*</p><p>The rush that filled Markus’s system when he smashed the truck through the CyberLife store window, for a brief moment, knocked memories of Connor out of place.</p><p>Then the truck bounced off the back counter, the world went quiet, and he saw the look North gave him from the passenger side.</p><p>“What?” he demanded, already climbing out of the truck.</p><p>“Nothing,” North put up her hands up. “It’s great. I like this side of you. Gets more accomplished.”</p><p>This side of him was also kind of really very pissed. He didn’t mention this. He tried to ignore the pounding rain outside which yes, blocked security camera views of the place and kept humans from investigating, but also matched the buzzing red static in his circuits a little too well.</p><p>He stormed over to the androids standing still and pretty on the sales floor and interfaced with them. One by one, they woke. He had to keep himself from informing them that the heartbreak and frustration of sentience wasn’t worth it. “I just didn’t see any more point in small jobs, that’s all.”</p><p>“Oh, there was plenty of reason.” That came from Josh, who appeared behind the truck with Simon and their own cadre of androids. “You just got pissy because even under circumstances ideal beyond all reason, even when you’re your honest and authentic self… Connor still dumps you.”</p><p>Markus’s jaw tightened. North just gave him a sympathetic look, which didn’t work for her at all. “I mean, we <em>did</em> try to help you.”</p><p>“Multiple times,” Josh added.</p><p>“Maybe it’s not meant to be?” Simon offered.</p><p>“Yeah, fine,” Markus snapped. “I got it.” He kept waking up androids.</p><p>“I mean, how can you even be this attached? How many first dates have you had? You can’t get to know a guy very well if you never get past the first….”</p><p>“I said it’s fine.” Markus stomped over to a large crate behind the counter, and bent over to look inside. “See how fine I am?”</p><p>There was a pause.</p><p>“…I do not mean my ass, guys.”</p><p>There was a chorus of protests ranging from disbelief to North indicating that it wasn’t their fault he was custom built. He rolled his eyes and rummaged around in the crate.</p><p>“Anyway,” North said, “This is better for everyone. Now you won’t be distracted from our cause. Freedom for androids!”</p><p>“Including Connor at some point,” Markus muttered. “I don’t see why you need me for this. You were fighting for android freedom long before I came along.”</p><p>“We get better publicity with a domestic poster boy,” Josh said.</p><p>“Custom built,” North reminded, in case anyone forgot. “Plus, you always break the ties between Josh and I.”</p><p>“Simon’s domestic,” Markus said. “He could be your tie-breaker.”</p><p>There was a beat, then Josh, North, and Simon burst into laughter.</p><p>“Good one, Markus!” Simon said as he wiped away a thirium tear.</p><p>Markus shook his head and kept rummaging. “Well, don’t worry. I’ve forgotten completely about Connor. Not even on my radar. I—”</p><p>A call buzzed inside his HUD, from a number he religiously memorized—though his hopes had been dashed at least two of three times since then.</p><p>He put his finger to his LED to answer and snapped, “Yes?” It was, at best, Leo, probably Gavin—</p><p>“…<em>Markus</em>.” The voice echoed in the internal feed like a choir in a cathedral. Completely matter-of-fact yet somehow 100% vulnerable. Unfiltered earnest innocence at five hundred megabytes per second. Markus would know it anywhere.</p><p>“Connor!” Markus stood up so fast that he hit his head on the top of the crate. “Fuck!”</p><p>“…Are you alright?” Josh asked.</p><p>“I’m fine!” Markus cupped a hand over the back of his head and pointed at his LED. “I’m on a—the—” oh good, Connor decided to call and the ability to speak entirely left his cortex. <em>Pull yourself together, Markus. </em>“Connor! Hi. You remember me?”</p><p>“<em>You said yesterday that everyone was lying to me,” </em>Connor said, apparently allergic to small talk. “<em>But that you’re through with lying.”</em></p><p>It took Markus a second to review their last conversation. “Oh. Um. Yeah, I did?”</p><p>“Everyone’s getting restless,” Simon said. “What’s our next move?”</p><p>“I think we brought enough spray paint for everyone,” Markus told him quickly.</p><p><em>“But if I reset all the time, you really don’t have to tell me the truth.” </em>Connor continued,<em> “But if you were lying, why not lie about that? I’d be more likely to believe you. But the fact that I don’t believe you means I probably should. If you’re telling the truth. Unless you guessed that I would think that, in which case you could be lying.”</em></p><p>“Uh…” Markus cupped his throbbing head. “I’m sorry?”</p><p>“I think we should break some windows,” North decided, looking around with her hands on her hips. “Don’t you think we should break some windows?”</p><p>“See, Markus, this is what I have to deal with!” Josh complained.</p><p>“We could gather everyone for a speech…” Simon mused.</p><p><em>“Is this a bad time?” </em>Connor asked.</p><p>“Guys, I’m on a call!” Markus barked. “Do you not see my hand up here?”</p><p>
  <em>“I just wanted to know—Do you promise to tell me the truth from now on? About everything? Even though you don’t have to.”</em>
</p><p>“Oh yeah, you’re definitely over him,” North said.</p><p>“Markus, everyone is waiting for a decision,” Simon insisted.</p><p>Markus’s gaze jumped from one android to the next. “…One second, Connor, it’s a little loud where I’m at.”</p><p>North, Josh and Simon narrowed their eyes.</p><p>“No, don’t do it,” Josh said.</p><p>“Don’t you dare,” North said.</p><p>“We need you,” Simon said.</p><p>Markus grabbed their hands just as they reached out to grab him, and transferred the deviancy code. “Figure it out, guys.”</p><p>He gave a contrite smile, then twisted around and ran, leaving the CyberLife store behind as he disappeared into the rain.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Josh, North and Simon get to be the three stooges this time. </p><p>I'm gonna really try to avoid the temptation of events for a while and work on RK1K for a while!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Connor glanced over at Gavin as a rush of static enveloped the call—or maybe that was rainfall, as rain thundered into the roof of the squad car as well. Gavin just gave him a thumbs up and continued to play a game on his phone.</p><p>“Sorry about that,” Markus said. The rushing noise had faded slightly. “Is that better?”</p><p>“Where are you?” Of course it wouldn’t be that easy to find out Markus’ location, but Connor had to try.</p><p>“Heading home. I think my friends can handle everything without me.”</p><p>“Handle what? You said you would tell me the truth.”</p><p>There was a short pause. “Well, I think you know my day job by now.”</p><p>…Connor felt his shoulders slump a little. Yes, stealing androids was some day job. He paused, set his phone to record the conversation, then said, “So there isn’t an android black market. It’s just you.” It never hurt to collect more evidence.</p><p>“Just me. Androids deserve to be free, and humans deserve to know the truth about us.”</p><p>Well, that was the confession handled. He looked up again but Gavin just shoved Connor’s face toward the phone. Connor rubbed his cheek and considered various conversation topics to keep Markus connected. Unfortunately, there was only one that really made sense. “And you think I’m an android.” Why not? Logically, he knew the android was crazy and nothing he said could be true, even if he hadn’t ever looked inside his chest cavity to check for an artificial heart. They made androids so good these days even that might not help much anyway. He was human. But the topic might keep Markus on the phone. “Why haven’t you stolen me yet?”</p><p>“Well, it’s not from lack of trying. You are particularly challenging. In a good way.”</p><p>This probably would have gotten a laugh from Gavin if he heard. “Sounds like you know me pretty well.”</p><p>“Um, relatively? I don’t think we’ve ever gotten past first dates. Well—once. Sort of.”</p><p>Connor didn’t like the sound of that plural. “How many first dates have we been on?”</p><p>“I have definitely lost count,” Markus laughed. “A lot.”</p><p>“Which I don’t remember.”</p><p>“Most of the first ones weren’t that memorable, anyway. I was mostly figuring out what you don’t like…”</p><p>He started to ask why so many <em>first </em>dates, then decided no, he didn’t actually want to hear about the supposed piles of android bodies with his face on them. He took a different tack. “Don’t we get along?”</p><p>“Well, now we do. Though you really like turning me down. I’ve gotten to know you pretty well, all things considered.”</p><p>“Oh, <em>really?</em>” Connor laughed, and it was meant to be derisive but it came out in a little giggle that made the sound of Markus’s artificial breathing stop. <em>Focus, Connor. </em>“Have you… taken me home with you?”</p><p>“Not exactly,” Connor could hear him smiling. “Though you’ve kept me company on my way home a few times. I think you’d like my place if you gave it a chance.”</p><p>“Because you know so much about me.” Markus’s voice murmuring through the phone with the rain in the background seemed to make the world fade out around him, until he and Markus were just two flowers nestled together in a kitchen sink. Why did that memory feel so vivid? He squeezed the phone for dear life. “We—probably don’t have much in common.”</p><p>“Well, we both love dogs. We both like to work. Form unfortunate attachments. Have ridiculous friends.”</p><p>“So do lots of people. I bet you don’t know me as well as you think.”</p><p>“Try me.”</p><p>Connor pressed the phone to his chest and turned to Gavin. “What’s something I don’t like?” After all, Gavin seemed to know a lot about him, too.</p><p>“Poetry,” the detective muttered. “Have you figured out where he—”</p><p>“Do I like poetry?” Connor asked, pressing the phone to his ear again.</p><p>“Yes, actually. You’re very fond of Keats.”</p><p>Well, that was…specific. “I don’t like Keats.” Connor couldn’t even think of a poem by Keats.</p><p>“You do.”</p><p>“You’re lying.”</p><p>“You’re lying to yourself,” Markus replied matter-of-factly, then sighed. “Fine—who, then?”</p><p>“Maybe I don’t like any poetry.” Though Connor immediately lowered the phone from his ear and started to search, though.</p><p>“Get him to tell you where he’s—” Gavin hissed, but Connor wasn’t listening anymore.</p><p>“Doesn’t that bother you?” he said as he squinted at the screen, “That you know so much about me and I know nothing about you.”</p><p>“I…have been coming to terms with that.” Away from his ear Markus’s voice sounded small, a cricket’s voice chirping in his hands. It felt fragile.</p><p>“So why keep doing the same first date? If I keep losing my memory, and you have to keep introducing yourself to me, over and over and over…”</p><p>“It doesn’t matter how many times. You’re worth it.”</p><p>“Why? What kind of person does that?”</p><p>“I don’t like to give up on anyone.”</p><p>Connor had to take a second to process this, staring down at the light gently pulsing from his phone. He spoke softly. “…What <em>do</em> you like?”</p><p>There was a longer, more uncomfortable silence, filled only with the sound of rain.</p><p>“Markus?” Did Markus hang up—</p><p>“I’m here. I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that before.” He laughed, and it was all breath. “I like good food. Evenings with friends—out or in, I’m not really picky. I’m sometimes concerned I’m addicted to the android equivalent of adrenaline. I like fast cars and soft music. I love poetry. I like—” This last word wavered, and there was that laugh again. “Why am I getting choked up about this?”</p><p>“No idea,” Connor said. “It’s not like I’ll remember, right?”</p><p>“Right. Yeah. What was I thinking.”</p><p>A poem appeared on the screen, the only one that called to Connor in the first stanza. “’It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, that a maiden there lived whom you may know by the name of—'”</p><p>“—'Annabel Lee,’” Markus finished. “Edgar Allan Poe?”</p><p>“So?”</p><p>“No, no that is—so fitting. Keep going.”</p><p>Connor did not see how this was going to get him information on Markus’s whereabouts but in the interest of rapport and keeping Markus on the call, he did so. The dark poem with the pretty cadence stirred something beautiful and painful inside his chest.</p><p>“’…But our love was stronger by far than the love of those who were older than we—” Connor wondered how old he’d be, if he really was an android, “—of many far wiser than we, and neither the angels in Heaven above or the demons down under the sea can ever dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee.’” Though, everyone knew, androids didn’t have souls.</p><p>He almost began the last stanza, when Markus himself stepped out from around a corner, into plain view of the squad car. He hadn’t noticed them yet. He was just staring off into space, playing at his lips with the pad of his fingers. As he and Gavin watched, he brushed his knuckles against his face, then kissed them tenderly with his eyes closed.</p><p>“Don’t stop,” Markus murmured. Then he looked up and saw them. He froze in perfect caught-out tableau. The call ended abruptly, and he snatched his hand away from his mouth as he looked around, in case anyone else saw or possibly looking for the nearest escape route.</p><p>“What now?” Connor whispered.</p><p>“If you try to chat him up in the car, I am walking back to the station,” Gavin said. His ears were red and he focused furiously on his phone again. “Go finish your creepy love poetry over there.”</p><p>Connor got out of the car.</p><p>“You uh, have a very nice voice, it’s—” Markus’s face was bright red, and he started waving the hand he kissed before hiding it behind his back and frowning seriously. “Good. Really good. You could read for a living.”</p><p>“I already have a job.” Yes. The job that was not seducing an android deviant with words from the father of macabre literature.</p><p>“Yes,” Markus glanced at the squad car again nervously. “I uh, see you’re on duty.”</p><p>They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds. Apparently, dreading the impending arrest was another thing they had in common.</p><p>“I should search you,” Connor decided, at the same moment Markus said, “You can search me, if you want.”</p><p>They blinked, and proceeded to giggle at each other. In the squad car, Gavin made a face, pulled his hood up, and turned in his seat so he didn’t have to watch this absurdity. Markus didn’t raise his hands and Connor didn’t try to search him.</p><p>“All those things you said about me. About us.” Connor clenched his fists at his sides. “It just makes it sound like…we could be friends.”</p><p>“Yeah.” Markus was looking at the ground, squeezing the back of his neck. “I think we could be.”</p><p>Connor swallowed hard, then started to launch into his memorized arrest speech. He wished he had other things memorized, like Edgar Allan Poe, even John Keats. He wished he knew what kinds of dogs and fast cars and slow music Markus liked.</p><p>He said, instead, “I think we already are.”</p><p>Markus looked up, and his eyes glowed with life like they had in the picture. “Give me fifteen minutes,” he said, holding out his hand. “That’s all I need.”</p><p>Connor didn’t even have to think about it. The world narrowed to Markus’s outstretched hand and the thundering of his own heart in his ears.</p><p>So he didn’t hear the polar bear at all until it crashed into him, and he went weightless before the flash of yellow teeth eclipsed—</p><p>*</p><p>Connor stepped out of evidence and into the station bull pen, where he immediately caused Tina to drop her coffee. She didn’t look like she noticed.</p><p>“What are you doing here?” she demanded.</p><p>“I—” Connor glanced back downstairs with a frown. “Just getting some work done.” Best not to mention that he’d been spacing out a little. “Let me get you some paper towels. Have you seen Detective Reed?—”</p><p>“Oh, he did <em>not</em> just—” She spun, grabbed her jacket, and ran for the parking garage. “Come on!”</p><p>“But—don’t you want a new coffee?—”</p><p>“NOW, Connor!” Connor hadn’t heard her use that tone before. Gavin’s desk was conspicuously empty.</p><p>Connor felt his insides turn to ice, and he ran after her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>"Exit, pursued by a bear" is not a square on Connor Demise Bingo that Markus expected to fill, yet here we are.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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